The Games We Play
by Darlin
Summary: Storm's finally divorced, dating Wolverine & Emma's giving advice on how to get a proposal. Ororo thinks it's rubbish but she just might be desperate enough to try to get Logan to confess his feelings only T'challa wants her back & starts his own games while Logan finds poker with his buds is just the right game to get back at him. The Thing, Spider-man & a few others help him out.
1. Lesson Number One

**The Games We Play – by Darlin**

**A/N **– This is dedicated to all the recent reviewers which were the impetus that got me writing again, and particularly Hellzz-on-Earth, a kind reviewer and new lover of RoLo, who said that anything's possible in regard to T'Challa. I want to thank her and all the other kind reviewers who've straggled in after all this time to take the time to let me know there's still some love for RoLo out there and that some of my old stories are still being enjoyed. Thank you!

**Disclaimer – **I don't own them, make no profit from this or any story and no copy write infringement intended.

**-xox-**

**Chapter One – Lesson Number One**

"Okay girls, I'm going to tell you how to hold on to your man and get him to marry you," declared Emma, the White Queen, with all her usual bravado, "Although," she added, "Ororo, our once upon a time royal highness, should already know this, except we all know that didn't exactly work out as well as she hoped it would."

Rogue, Ororo, Kitty and Jubilee groaned. They'd just been sitting around talking in Rogue's room minding their business, just gossiping a little about people they knew, people they didn't know, movie stars, reality stars and the like. But in between the gossiping there was a whole lot of complaining about the men in their lives or lack of men in Jubilee's case. Emma had heard them talking as she'd come down the hallway, the door ajar as if an open invitation. She'd first thought better of interfering, shaking her head slightly, annoyed for even doubting herself but then she realized she knew exactly how to solve their problems and so she'd strode into the room dressed in her skimpy white top and skin tight white leggings looking as confident of what she said as any woman who wore skimpy clothes and had men drooling over them all the time.

"It's easy, just stop sleeping with them or don't sleep with the next man you meet as in your case, Jubilee," said Emma before anyone could say anything and with a wag of her finger at Jubilee. "Oh, I know what you're all thinking even without aid of my exceptional mental powers but you poor darlings, I can count the number of men I've slept with on one hand – can you?"

"Well, actually, yeah," Jubilee confessed.

"Me too," Kitty said.

"Me three," Rogue said with a smirk.

"Hey, don't look at me like I'm the exception!" exclaimed Ororo when the others turned to her. "I think we can all count the number of men we've slept with on one hand, Emma although frankly I'm a little skeptical of your claim."

"You would be but although I may have spent a number of years with . . . a certain type of club . . ."

"Catering in all kinds of explicit . . ."

"Explicit fun, yes, Kitty an apt description, thank you!" enthused Emma, effectively cutting Kitty off. "However I'm a telepath remember? And thus I'm the woman who knows how to fake it better than any other woman." She laughed when she saw them looking uncertainly at each other. "I always forget you need all the dots connected in order to keep up," she went on, "It's simple. Every man in that club thought he rocked my world and I rocked his. It saved a lot of icky bouts of intercourse, mental or physical mind you, with even ickier men." She smiled again as if remembering the countless men she'd simply mind wiped into thinking she was the best there was at what she was supposed to be doing back then.

Jubilee said, "I'm kinda glad my old teacher really wasn't a hooker in the Hellfire Club."

"So am I, darling."

"Yeah, well I still don't get what your point is," said Kitty, "I mean if you don't sleep with a guy wouldn't they just find someone else to sleep with eventually? I mean it isn't like we all have your mind manipulating abilities."

"How droll. I may have used my telepathy to keep dirty paws off me but I have never been in need of my power in order to hold onto a man I actually want to be with."

Ororo started to say something as she thought about just how Emma first got to Scott while her best friend and Scott's wife Jean was still alive but instead she merely sighed, shook her head, and closed her mouth.

"All I'm doing is trying to make you understand! I'm honestly trying to help you because I actually know it works, I've done it, or rather not done it and it does work. Yes, it's an old fashioned premise but then at heart I am truly an old fashioned girl whether you chose to believe that or not. The fact has been well demonstrated for eons, men seldom buy the cow when they can get the milk for free. Try it and see. Oh, sorry, Ororo, that won't work on Logan, it only works with normal men and he's quite the man-whore."

"Logan is not!" snapped Ororo.

"Really, darling? We all know he couldn't count all the women he's slept with and not married on all ten fingers, six claws, and ten toes now don't we?"

Ororo couldn't help frowning. Emma's words hurt, they hurt a lot because she and Logan had started dating again now that she was divorced and Logan had broken up with his girlfriend.

"Final words of wisdom, darlings, stop giving out the goodies for free and most men will quickly come around."

"Or they'll just go ta someone else who's giving it out for free, sugah," laughed Rogue.

"You would know I suppose."

"Emma!" Ororo hissed.

"Oh, no that's alright, Ro, Emma ain't botherin' me none. But ya know she's actually made a good point, ah do know. Remy an' me are on a break but he always keeps comin' back ta me so . . . well, maybe Emma's right."

"Well, whatever," Emma said and then with eyes wide exclaimed, "You mean you think I'm right?"

"Ah said maybe."

"So you're saying if Kitty and Peter stop sleeping together Peter'll be all frustrated an' he'll marry her?" inquired Jubilee curiously.

"Most likely. Peter's unlikely to look elsewhere because he really loves Kitty but what incentive has he to marry her when he's getting all the benefits without marriage?"

"Who said I wanted to get married anyway?" exclaimed Kitty.

"All women do. There wouldn't be so many abysmal wedding shows on cable if it wasn't the everywoman dream."

"I don't," Jubilee muttered.

"You just don't have a man yet and you of all people can use my advice, Jubilee."

"You mean I should play hard to get in other words?"

Emma laughed. "No, Jubilee. We never play games with our men, games are for children and though men are oftentimes hard to discern from children games are not how you win and keep a man."

"Soooooo . . . just plain don't sleep with him then?" queried Jubilee.

"Remarkable comprehension."

"I suppose you think we should dress like you too," Kitty snorted.

"It would certainly draw the men out of the woodwork granted but no, no you don't have to dress as evocative as I do especially if you don't have a figure as nice as mine. I'm afraid the way I dress is an old habit I picked up at the Hellfire Club, it keeps men off balance, and I've found old habits die hard more often than not. Nevertheless, you must admit I have toned it down. "

"I've always wondered how you kept up that old suit of yours," Kitty said, looking down at her own less endowed chest.

"Implants," teased Ororo.

There was a collective gasp and a snicker while Emma looked shrewdly at Ororo and said, "You're good, Ororo. I wouldn't have thought you'd be the one to have noticed. I had the best Brazilian doctor money could buy and I see no reason to deny it when I look so damn good."

Ororo just shook her head in disbelief though she didn't know why Emma's overconfidence still amazed her.

"Wow! They're really implants?" asked the impressed Jubilee.

"When you can afford it I'll give you my doctor's name."

"Emma, please! Jubilee does not need implants!" Ororo said defiantly.

"The well endowed are always utterly ignorant of how lesser endowed women feel," replied Emma haughtily. "We'll, talk later, Jubilee. As for you, Kitty heed my advice and you'll soon have Peter hook, line, and sinker as they say.

"Now you, Ororo are a lost cause. Logan will never come around no matter how hard you might try my method. And you're quite familiar with the method; you had Forge on his knees and caught your prince. Hmm, although I must admit Logan does seem rather taken with you, after all he did take you back after your marriage fiasco but . . ." Emma paused and shook her head, "No. He's just not the marrying type."

"Okay, that's enough, Emma. I have better things to do than sit around listening to your inept advice." And so Ororo got up and stalked out of the room.

"The truth hurts so very deeply," Emma observed and then sat down beside Rogue on the bed where Ororo had just gotten up from. "Now tell me about that singer you were talking about, the one who . . ."

Ororo shut the door so she wouldn't have to listen to Emma's overly friendly, inquisitive voice drone on. Sometimes she hated how Emma had woven herself into their lives. Supposedly Scott loved the woman but Ororo had a suspicion that Emma was manipulating him despite her earlier comments. You didn't go from sweet, kindhearted Jean to nasty, haughty Emma without some type of nudge in the realm of telepathy. But then again Ororo was willing to give most people the benefit of the doubt and Scott wasn't really lovey dovey with the woman and Ororo would've expected sheer devotion from the man if Emma really was controlling him.

Love was such a hard thing to understand. And that was Ororo's problem. She'd been divorced now for six months, dating Logan for five of those months and yes, having sex for four of those months. It just kind of happened one evening. After he kissed her at the door to her room after an evening out she just told him to stay and he did. Sex with Logan was on a different level than sex with her ex but they both knew how to get to a woman. Ororo hated to admit it but she'd become addicted to Logan only it wasn't just the sex that had gotten to her. She wanted to be with him more and more, even just to sit there and look at him sometimes, saying nothing just relishing being with him. She loved the way he made her laugh so hard she had to fight to keep from wetting her pants. She loved that burly, gruff manner of his on the outside and the sweet tender heart inside. She adored the way they meshed. He knew her better than anyone; she trusted no one more than him.

Before her marriage they'd dated a little but something had always held them back from anything more. Back then she'd believed it wasn't _something_ but _someone_ and she'd respected his unspoken but die hard feelings for her best friend. Despite that, she'd cared very much for Logan but then she'd reunited with her first love, someone who actually let her know he wanted her, and he'd swept her off her feet Back then T'Challa had seemed crazy about her and did everything with her but Emma was right, it hadn't turned out like she'd expected. Mostly, she supposed because she'd been thinking with other parts instead of her brain. She'd loved him with a love you always have for your first love, but nostalgia can only last so long and after a while when he had less and less time for her it wasn't enough. He moved on to new adventures without her and so she'd been forced to admit she needed to move on too.

Happily ever after had been the plan. No one expects to get divorced. Queen Ororo. She'd liked the sound of that, the fairy tale princess, the queen that lived happily ever after with her handsome princely king, only it wasn't ever going to be that way now. Maybe Emma was right and most women wanted that fairy tale with the prince, the beautiful wedding, and a happy ending. Staying with Logan meant she'd never have any of that again but she knew it might be too late for her to back out now.

She'd been falling in love with Logan for years and years. After her divorce she'd given up fighting it, taken what she could get, and had been happy enough. But happy enough wasn't really good enough anymore. She wished she didn't want more and yet she wanted more. She knew he didn't. He'd drop her like a hot potato if he ever got the slightest whiff of her strong need for commitment that she knew must surely be emanating from her. She didn't think she could bear losing him, because she was sure she'd found the man she would love the rest of her life. Well, if Emma was right about one thing could she also be right about the free milk?

Now almost everyone woman has heard the age old advice about a man not buying the cow when he's getting free milk but Ororo, frankly, had not. An orphan at an early age there had been no mother figure and no real guidance when it came to things like that. Whether or not the advice was old fashioned she didn't know but she did know that she had to know that he cared for her, that she was the only woman he was with, and that they could make something out of their relationship, maybe even build a family together and she was ready to try almost anything just as any woman in love would.

The thing was that Emma was definitely right about Logan. The man simply wasn't the committing type. He'd committed to only one woman and then he'd had to kill her in order to end her suffering from poisoning. She had liked the Lady Mariko whom she'd thought was everything she herself wasn't. Mariko was soft, sweet, self assured and utterly feminine. Ororo never considered herself more than a rough woman from the wild, the only feminine thing about her, her love of shoes. She especially loved high heels because they made her feel ten feet tall, giving her a domineering position above the world who often looked down at her. Not that she needed heels to feel powerful or to dominate a man, she just loved high heels and had stacks and stacks of labeled boxes in several closets. It was materialistic and trivial, nothing she was sure Mariko would've been into but that's who Ororo was. She and Mariko were worlds apart.

In Africa Ororo was used to being adored, worshiped and respected but here in America not only was she hated because she was a mutant who could contain the winds and skies with a thought, she was also hated because of the color of her skin as well as her sex. Sometimes on those rare occasions when she was feeling lonely she felt utterly worthless compared to other women, even her friends, especially when she remembered the way Logan had looked at Jean. He'd never looked at her like that. Well, he did now but it had taken quite a while before he'd really paid attention like that with her. Was that because she wasn't good enough, not the right color, not feminine enough? She could never be Mariko, could never be Jean. Was she enough for Logan to fall in love with?

"I guess the only way I might be able to find out is if I try," Ororo muttered to herself. And so she resolved the next time she went out with Logan she would do exactly what Emma had suggested, no games, just cut him off – no sex for you anymore, bub, she thought with a wistful smile.

It didn't take long for her to run into Logan either. He was hurrying after her as she was going upstairs several hours later.

"Hey, 'Ro, what ya doin'?" was his easy greeting.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"Wanna go get somethin' ta eat an' see a movie? They got this new action flick that oughta give us a few laughs."

Ororo perked up, the thought of the absurdities they were sure to find in the latest action movie was too enticing to pass up. They shared that in common, counting all the off the wall stunts and inaccuracies in the melees that anyone who had really fought in real battles could easily spot.

"So, you up for it?"

But she knew dinner and a movie also meant sex. Yes, she'd fallen under his spell, yes he was so good she didn't know how she'd ever be able to say no to him – just one kiss could set her off – but she knew it was now or never. She needed to do something to find out how he felt; she needed to know whether to stay with him or to let him go.

"Okay, that sounds good," she said and went up without the usual flirting she normally would've engaged in.

"Um . . . how 'bout we leave at seven, 'kay?"

"Seven's good, see you then."

Logan stared. He would've liked to have gone up with her, spend some down time with her, but it was obvious she didn't want company. He wondered if she was okay.

"Nah, she's fine," he said then headed back downstairs.

Ororo didn't tell anyone she was going to try Emma's suggestion. She didn't want anyone to laugh at her or try to talk her out of it. For that matter she didn't want anyone to know she was falling hopelessly in love with Logan especially if he didn't feel the same way.

Seven o'clock came faster than she would've liked. She'd spent a long time in a hot sudsy bath, shaved everywhere then showered off the soap scum, and then lotioned and dusted herself with a soft, light, fragrance that she knew Logan liked. Finding the right outfit took at least an hour. She tried on more than half a dozen dresses and skirts. She was determined to look mouth wateringly divine tonight and when Logan saw her coming down the steps and his mouth opened wide she figured all that time spent trying to make a memorable impression had succeeded. Now Ororo wasn't a girly girl but she did feel the shoes made the outfit so when it came to pumps cost usually wasn't a concern. Tonight she had on a pair of Christian Louboutin's, tall, red, strappy heels with equally blood red soles that matched the short, strappy red dress she'd squeezed herself into. The dress had a plunging neckline which showed off her lovely décolletage and the back of the dress, Logan saw, was daringly, arousingly low.

He grinned in admiration as he walked around her. Her hair was in a different style he wasn't used to, not quite up, not quite down but exposing her front and back to perfection. She had it pinned under in a fancy style Betsy had once taught her but he wouldn't have known or cared.

"You're beautiful, darlin'!"

She took his compliment in stride, though it secretly thrilled her. She smiled then strutted ahead of him. Logan didn't stop grinning. He eagerly opened the door for her, nothing unusual just what he did in his old fashioned gentlemanly way but there was a little bounce to his step as he imagined the night to come.

"I'm starved, how about you, Logan?"

"Starved," he said but he didn't want to bite into a steak, he was envisioning himself biting into her. Unfortunately there was dinner and a movie to get out of the way first but he opened the car door for her and off they went.

Dinner was way too long. Ororo was laughing and talking like they used to do before they'd started sleeping together, taking him into her confidence about some of the school dilemmas, security being a major concern she hadn't informed Scott about yet since the two of them had been able to break in without tripping any of the alarms last week after Logan lost his keys in the woods when they'd been doing things she made herself not think about now. They talked far too long trying to decide what was needed to improve security and then how Rogue and Remy were never going to make it work anymore than Emma and Scott so they ended up missing the movie but after good conversation and a good meal Logan felt the evening had been a total success and was going to get even better. Only an unexpected roadblock appeared in the form of a particular ex husband.

"Hey, Ororo I didn't know you'd be here," T'Challa smiled that perfect smile of his that used to make her melt.

They were just leaving, he was just arriving. She was stunned. He looked gorgeous. She had to admit it too. He always looked good in a tux and he had one on now which meant some late night soiree with bigwigs. She glanced around, saw he was alone and she couldn't help smiling with satisfaction.

"So you and Wolverine got back together," T'Challa said when Ororo merely smiled and nodded a greeting.

"So you flying solo?" Logan nearly growled.

"Me? Um, no. My dates're in the restroom – you know how women do."

"Nope, Ro don't' do all that preppin' ta fake out men'," Logan did growl out this time.

"Ah, then that goes to show how little you really know the goddess," T'Challa observed with a look of superiority.

"I . . . I . . . !" Ororo stammered in frustration but he was already turning away as two women came up to him, each sliding an arm around him.

Logan whistled low under his breath, duly impressed. Ororo wished the floor would rise up and chew her to miniscule bits of sawdust. Wasn't she worth a whistle like that?

"Ororo, I'd introduce you but I don't want to detain you," T'Challa called over his shoulder with a chuckle.

Logan glanced at Ororo who looked the angriest he'd ever seen her look before. She was fuming silently, annoyed, angry, hurt, and even a tiny bit jealous. She wanted to grab her ex by the neck with both hands and choke him till he turned blue, till he couldn't breathe, till he died!

"Whoa," Logan whispered. "It ain't like they're anywhere as beautiful as you, darlin'," he offered, hoping to calm her down.

"What?" she barked as her eyes followed her ex.

"Those bimbos – who are they but some gold diggers after his money, right? I mean yeah, he's royalty I guess, rich an' all that, guess he ain't ugly but, well . . ."

Ororo looked hard at Logan. Was he actually rubbing her nose in what she'd essentially lost? When he faltered and gave up trying to make her feel better Ororo turned her attention back to her ex. She could already imagine the night he was going to have while she was going home to be alone. She wished she was Wanda the Scarlet Witch of the Avengers and could put a hex on him, make him pay though pay for what she didn't exactly know because she was really glad and lucky to be free of him – leaving her so he could go work in a diner in Hell's Kitchen! Well of course she'd turned to Wolverine and like that was something to be ashamed of! She looked at Logan again and he gave her a lopsided grin. She wanted to glower at him, wanted to scream but all she could really do was laugh.

"That man will probably always get under my skin. I don't know why."

"Guess you love 'im."

"No, that's not it. It was more lust than love – kind of like us, great sex but not much of anything else," she added thoughtfully. "Ah well, let's get out of here before I throw up that filet mignon I just ate."

Logan wrinkled his nose in distaste but it wasn't the thought of her barfing up her meal. He never liked thinking about Ororo being with T'Challa like that, besides, he thought they had something more than just great sex. They'd just had a fine evening out; both of them laughing so hard about Emma that everyone had turned to stare. Wasn't that good and didn't that count for something?

"I think we got more 'n that, darlin'" he said, taking her hand in his.

"Really? Well, we are good friends," she replied while hoping the conversation and the unusual move of holding hands was an indicator of deeper feelings. But then, too afraid to be shot down, she continued, "We'll always be the best of friends, or at least I hope we will be after, well, you know when things end – or well, when they change."

"Yeah. Uh, change? Change how? You thinkin' 'bout gettin' back w/T'Challa?"

She laughed again, pulled her hand free then draped an arm over his shoulder. "I'll never go back down that road. I'm over him. He just . . . I don't know, maybe I just hate seeing him so damn happy when I'm – well, I wish I was happier maybe."

"What's the problem? You got the school, the kids, friends, what more could you want – two frail's clinging to you hopin' you'll throw 'em some money after you've used 'em up?"

She laughed, rich and full and he laughed too.

"Oh, Logan, you always know how to make me laugh," she whispered and leaned down a bit and kissed him close to his ear.

He drew in his breath sharply as he felt her inhale then exhale lightly in his ear. He loved it when she did that.

"Let's get home an' I'll give ya another reason ta be glad you ain't with him."

Ororo did indeed let him walk her to her bedroom where she kicked off her heels, wrapped her arms around his neck and bent her head to accommodate his kisses.

"Mmmmm," she murmured. He was the best kisser, even better than her ex husband but she remembered what she had to do and so with the deepest of sighs and then the biggest of grins she dropped her arms, reached for her small clutch which she'd dropped along with her shoes and pulled out a crisp fifty dollar bill then handed it to him.

"Thanks for dinner," she said and started to close the door behind her only Logan stretched out an arm and stopped her.

"What's this for?"

"Dinner of course."

"Huh? Why? It was my treat."

"No, I've decided it's best if we go dutch from now on."

"Dutch?"

"You know, that quaint old fashioned custom of lore," mused Ororo.

"Huh?"

"Goodnight, Logan and thanks for a nice evening."

The door shut in Logan's face leaving him completely bewildered.

"What was that about?" he groaned. Had he done something wrong? But suddenly he realized it wasn't him it was her ex who'd screwed things up for him. Well, two could play that game, Logan thought and he quickly hurried down the stairs and out the school.

**-xox-**

It was two in the morning when Ororo's phone rang. She'd just fallen asleep maybe an hour ago, her mind had been too busy with thoughts of Logan for her to find rest easily and now she felt as if she'd just been awakened from a drugged sleep. She groaned, hoping the phone would shut up. It didn't. She wanted to throw it against the wall but instead she rolled over and fumbled for it on her nightstand.

"Uhhh . . . huh?" Ororo moaned into the phone still half asleep.

"Get over here now and get your pet runt outta my penthouse?" T'Challa's voice shrieked into the phone.

"Aaaa!" screamed Ororo and she dropped the phone then rubbed at her ear. Who? What? Was that her husband – her ex husband trying to pierce her eardrum?

"Huh?" she managed to get out when she retrieved the phone.

"You heard me, get over here and get this crazy little hairy man out of my penthouse!" screamed T'Challa.

"What?"

"You're completely useless do you know that!" T'Challa shouted and hung up.

"Mmm, stupid . . . husband," she murmured as she curled back into a ball and soon dozed.

She had a dream shortly after that where she was sure T'Challa was shouting at her, his evening as ruined as hers. She bolted up – runt? No, she'd had to have been dreaming.

"Logan?" she called out in the emptiness of her room. "Logan? You can't be at T'Challa's!"

And if he was it couldn't be good. She reached for her robe unsure of what to do. Had she heard him right?

The phone rang again and this time she pounced on it.

"T'Challa? What's happened? Is Logan there?"

"Your little animal friend is here alright, and he's settled in for an evening of poker with his buddies – can't you control him?"

Ororo giggled then covered the phone. She could see Logan and some of his favorite card buddies, Nick Fury and Ben Grimm and who knew who else, all just lounging around T'Challa's lovely penthouse with feet propped up on the marble inlaid tables, their muddy boots having tracked mud all over the gorgeous ivory colored carpet.

"Oh, Logan," she said with admiration before uncovering the phone again. "Well, T, I'm not really sure that's my department," she told her ex, "It would seem to me if Logan thought you were up for a game of poker that's between you two."

"I didn't invite him here! I was about to go to bed _and not alone _when he barged in!" T'Challa hissed.

"And I was trying to sleep."

"Well, I wasn't going to be sleeping!"

Ororo frowned. He was so disgusting in his arrogance. "I don't care if you've got a whole cheerleader squad in your room, T'Challa," she retorted.

"Then why'd you say anything at all if you don't care?"

"What? Why do you have the need to keep me informed about your love life? I really don't care what you do! I mean you just keep rubbing my face in your women, every time I see you you've got women hanging all over you. And why do I see you now more than I ever did in the last six months of our marriage? You're on magazine covers, on the news and following me to my favorite restaurant even! Why is that, hmmm?"

She had no way of knowing it but T'Challa grinned. "How was I supposed to know that was your favorite restaurant?"

"Because you used to take me there – oh never mind! I'll come get Logan if you want, I was wondering what was taking him so long anyway – I usually – _**we**_ usually spend our nights in wild abandon."

"Just hurry up and get your ass over here!"

The phone went silent. Ororo looked at it. "Wild abandon?" she asked herself. "Really? Couldn't you have thought of something a little better than wild abandon, Ororo?"

Meanwhile T'Challa was looking at his phone – "Wild abandon my ass! With that runt? Hell no!" he snarled then glared at Logan who along with the other guys was watching him. "What the . . . okay, that's it. You think your boy's so great just wait an' see," he chuckled and turning away from the guys he made another call.

"What's goin' on?" Ben asked after waving pleasantly to T'Challa.

"Sssh," Logan hissed as he tried to figure out what wild abandon had to do with Ororo's and T'Challa's conversation having only caught T'Challa's side of it.

"Dude's not paying any attention to us," Johnny noted and T'Challa wasn't. He'd moved into his bedroom closing the door behind him and his women were now wandering around the room aimlessly touching knickknacks here and there and occasionally glancing at the poker players.

"You want to tell us why we're here, Logan?" questioned Nick.

"Man's tryin' ta move in on my woman," Logan griped.

"T'Challa?" Luke asked, surprised.

Logan threw him an angry look.

"So who's da woman? One of them dames he's got with 'im now?" Ben asked with a grin.

"Hell no! You think I'd sit here playin' cards while he tried that? Get outta here, Grimm!"

"Well, who is it then?" inquired Johnny.

Logan threw him an angry look.

"We know her?" Ben asked with a grin a mile wide.

"What makes you think you'd know her?" Logan growled.

"Oh, la de da! Like we ain't good enough fer yer woman?" Ben sneered.

Logan threw him an angry look.

"It ain't like you an' T run in the same circles, Ben, you know what I'm saying?" Luke said.

Logan threw Luke an angry look.

"Well, you don't!"

"He doesn't," agreed Johnny.

"Is it that cute little Mexican chick you been seein'?" Ben asked with a wide mischievous grin.

Logan glared around at all of them but none of them seemed to care, in fact Logan's mood was just tickling Ben to no end.

"Ya work with da dame?" Ben asked.

Logan's look darkened.

"I knew it! We do know her! An' you work with her too!" roared Ben who let out a loud guffaw.

"Well who is it?" Luke wanted to know.

"It ain't gonna kill ya ta fess up, 'specially since we took da time ta come help you out," Ben said.

"He's right, Logan," Nick said, nodding in agreement.

"Like you mugs had plans," muttered Logan.

"**Who is it**?" implored Johnny.

"Storm," Logan admitted with a look that dared any of them to say anything.

"Storm?" Johnny was confused.

"Storm!" Luke was obviously shocked.

"Storm!" Johnny whistled, not confused any more.

"I knew it!" Nick muttered to himself.

Ben just laughed his big bawdy laugh and pounded the table he was so amused.

"You – you hittin' . . . Storm?" gasped Luke, the implications unsettling.

"Watch your mouth, Cage," Logan said, half rising from his seat.

"Sit your hairy ass down, man!" Luke shouted. "I ain't tryin' ta be all up in your business, you know what I'm saying! I mean I always thought the babe was a dime an' like real upper class but damn, man she's T's ex wife! What're you thinkin'?" Luke looked towards T'Challa's bedroom door and wondered why his friend hadn't told him what was going on.

"A dime? What's a dime?" Johnny asked.

"It ain't a dime a dozen that's fer sure," Ben chuckled.

"It means she's a ten, she's hot, bad, fine you know what I'm saying?"

"Oh. Hey, wait, Ororo _was_ the one who divorced T'Challa wasn't she? That was like way out of the blue, I never expected they'd break up." Johnny said and then, "Bro, are _you_ the reason she left him?"

"Yeah – no! I mean I didn't have anything ta do with her leavin' him. We got t'gether after that." Logan, muttered secretly proud of the compliments the guys were giving Ororo.

"How long you two been going out?"

"Maybe four, five months, not long."

"Five months? They ain't been divorced five months!" Luke exploded.

"Yeah they have."

"They got divorced in . . . uhhhh . . ." Luke was counting in his head, fingers wiggling unconsciously, as he tallied up the months a few times to be be sure. He finally gave Logan a strange look and said, "Dang, she ain't wait too long did she, what a month?"

"So what? It ain't Ro's fault! We were t'gether before she got with him, maybe she realized I was the one she should've married," Logan said defensively.

"What? So you an' 'Roro're gettin' married now?" bellowed Ben.

"Shut up! You want him ta hear us?" Logan warned. "No, we ain't gettin' married, it was just a figure of speech."

"It's all good, Logan it ain't none of our business anyway what you an' Storm do, man," Luke said. "You just think you tight with someone, you know what I'm saying? I mean, man! I was his best man! You'd think he would've told me something!"

"So, let's see, the gist of it is that they're divorced but T'Challa's trying to get Storm back," Nick summed up the situation succinctly.

"Yeah, somethin' like that, least that's what I'm thinkin'. He showed up an' ruined our night – thinks he's being funny."

"Thinks he's being slick," muttered Luke with a bit of resentment since he felt he should know T'Challa better than any of them.

"So, you're ruinin' his night, that it?" Ben figured it out.

"Pretty much."

"All nighter?" Nick asked.

"Pretty much," repeated Logan.

Nick grinned then pushed away from the table a bit, patted his thigh, and waved the women over. One had been eying him and she immediately plopped down in his lap and the other, after looking hard at everyone there as if trying to make some kind of decision, put her hands on her hips and studied Fury.

"Are you famous too?" she asked hopefully.

**A/N** – For anyone who's interested Chapter Two, Lesson Two is finished and will be up in a few days, I'm just tweaking it.


	2. Lesson number Two

**The Games We Play – by Darlin**

**-xox-**

**Chapter Two – ****Lesson Number Two**

Ororo landed on the terrace to the vaunted impenetrable penthouse where the newlyweds had often resided after they'd moved out of the Fantastic Four's Baxter building. Not only did the penthouse have one of the best views in the city but special Wakandan security extras had been installed to protect the royal couple. Now, she noted, the motion detectors and alarms were off, something that had always annoyed her whenever they'd thrown a party. She knew something about security but he preferred that his guest feel at home, allowed to wander where they would and she, trying to be the good wife, had accepted the lax security.

He was a good host, she gave him that, he loved entertaining which was probably one reason he hadn't sent Logan and his friends packing because who would tolerate an invasion of their home in the wee hours of the morning like this otherwise? But she also knew he loved the limelight, he was always happiest when he was the center of attention, which was another reason she presumed he was allowing the impromptu party. In fact, as sure as she was that she was addicted to Logan she was sure he was addicted to fame. Sometimes he was so egotistical, always wanting to be seen and known as King T'Challa of Wakanda, greatest African nation, far superior to every other nation, his most royal highness, his most Excellency Excelsior! Thinking about this now just turned her annoyance into anger – waking her up in the middle of the night when it had taken hours for her to finally stop thinking about Logan and actually fall asleep, making her come all this way for what?

But she reconsidered; after all she would be taking Logan home with her. Bad girl, she thought, take him home but leave him at the door. Still, the thought of seeing Logan again made her smile and she ran her hands through her hair so she looked a little more presentable. She'd just thrown on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and some Keds and knew she didn't look mouthwateringly beautiful like she'd worked so hard to do earlier but she knew Logan wouldn't mind. T'Challa on the other hand would. She'd always felt she was the trophy wife he enjoyed showing off.

She was startled out of her musing when shouting and whistling roared from inside and then she heard the unmistakable sound of women laughing. The laughter made her stomach suddenly queasy and as she moved closer to the glass patio doors she saw T'Challa standing at the front door as women in cheerleader outfits streamed in. He was grinning from ear to ear as they say, like the cat that had just captured a boatload of fat rats only in this case a boatload of shapely rats. He was her ex, it shouldn't matter what he did, and he'd done things like this before, but she was quickly growing to despise him.

When she let herself into her old home she saw the woman were quickly making themselves at home. Some were undressing, revealing skimpy bathing suits, and asking for the hot tub, others were vying over whose lap they were going to sit on – Nick already had his two women on each knee, and others were scrounging around for drinks, food and music. Someone found the Bose remote and rap music blasted out and there, to Ororo's absolute horror, was Logan sitting in the midst of the chaos with his own personal lap dancer!

"What the . . . ?" Ororo stared in disbelief. How could things have gone so wrong so fast?

"Hey, baby," T'Challa said, coming up to her. He was pleased with her reaction. _Yeah, two can play this game_, he thought. "Looks like your little runt won't want to leave now he's got his own personal cheerleader. Just our luck there's a cheerleader convention in the city, they're in every hotel," he laughed.

Ororo felt like a tea kettle getting ready to boil over. "You son of a bitch," she said and turned and walked back out onto the terrace. He followed her not noticing the long, low warning peal of thunder.

"Baby, maybe we can talk, huh?"

"Talk?" she turned to him, fury blazing in her eyes. "Talk about what? Your cheerleaders, your women, the time you have to play now when you had no time for me when we were married? The way you just deserted me, running off to manage that diner in Hell's Kitchen? Did you want to talk about how this doesn't resemble Hell's Kitchen in the least or did you want to discuss how you've gotten Logan to lower his standards just like you? You want to talk, T'Challa? Uh huh." She shook her head, but she wasn't finished. "I don't care what you do or what he does for that matter." She was jabbing her finger at him now. "Logan and I will always be friends. You and I . . . we were never friends. You – you . . . don't ever call me again!" she shot at him, each word emphasized.

"Now wait a minute, Ororo I'm just trying to straighten things out between us."

"There is no us to straighten out, there never was an us, it was all about you you you, T'Challa, there will never ever be an us. And cheerleaders? How's that going to straighten anything out?"

"Are you so sure?" he asked, pulling her into his arms.

Though Ororo knew she should have resisted she didn't try to stop him from kissing her. She liked his soft kisses. She liked the familiarity of his embrace, the way he always held her as if she were something fragile and precious. Logan was all hands, grabbing, pulling, moving her where he wanted her, always in control – his hands around the cheerleader's waist pulling her closer as she gravitated. But T'Challa was so gentle. It would be a miracle to get a mixture of those two qualities in a man – gentle but in charge, the perfect man. She briefly wondered if she could continue what she had with Logan and see T'Challa on the side but a glance past T'Challa's showed her that Logan had already forgotten her.

"Looks like you missed me too," T'Challa said.

"I haven't missed you, just maybe some things."

"Runt's got nothing on me, huh?"

"I wish you'd stop calling him that."

"Why if you're just friends with benefits and nothing more than that?"

She shook her head, unable to think clearly. T'Challa always got to her, always knew how to push her buttons. When she looked into the penthouse again, saw Logan with that girl, she just shook her head again, pushed away from T'Challa then soared into the sky.

**-xox-**

Ororo was on her second cup of coffee when Logan came into the kitchen that morning. She was there with Kitty, Jubilee, and Remy trying to concentrate on what they were talking about while nursing a headache that threatened to make her head explode. She hadn't been able to go back to sleep when she'd left T'Challa's, hadn't been able to keep the sight of Logan and that cheerleader out of her head. Emma's advice had been wrong but why should she be surprised on that account? Emma didn't know one from two when it came to any subject except lying, stealing, coercing, reading minds, and lying, stealing and coercing.

"You up late, Logan," Remy noted in way of greeting.

"So?" grunted Logan as he wandered in without looking at anyone or wanting to speak to anyone.

"You ain't lookin' so good," commented Remy.

"Mind your own damn business, Cajun," growled Logan as he poured a cup of coffee.

"Couldn't sleep?" Ororo asked – she couldn't help it.

"Huh?" he looked around, saw Ororo and immediately frowned. "Thought you were at T'Challa's."

"Me?"

"Weren't you there? Thought I smelled ya – his high-ass said you were spendin' the night."

Ororo was up in a heartbeat, accidentally knocking her chair to the side she was so angry – "I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill him!" she exploded.

"Whoa, calm down, chère, let it go!" exclaimed Remy.

"So, you didn't spend the night with him?" Logan eyed her curiously.

"What? I'm so sick and tired of you asinine men! Spend the night with him? Why on earth would I do that again?"

"Because I smell him all over you," Logan said flatly.

Ororo looked as guilty as she felt but quickly recovered and explained, "He hugged me. Okay, he kissed me too, but that was it." For once she was irritated with Logan's exceptional senses, hadn't her shower erased all scent of her sleazy ex husband from her?

"You don't owe me any explanations, darlin'," Logan said as he sipped his coffee.

"No, I don't. What were you doing there with that girl dancing all over you?"

Logan flung his head back and roared with laughter.

"What's so funny?" fumed Ororo.

"You. I've never seen you act like this before. You sound like you're jealous."

"Ex's can do that to you, you know," Emma contributed her two cents.

"Well, for once you've finally said something right, Emma! T'Challa drives me crazy!" Ororo said but she quickly turned back to Logan, "Did you have a nice time with your new friend?"

"Nice enough lap dance," he admitted with a shrug and a slight twitch of a muscle in his jaw, then added, "Got my fifty bucks worth."

"Logan!" Kitty cried.

"We was just playin' poker an' T'Challa's got us some entertainment, it wasn't anything other than that."

Emma observed Ororo who looked as if her calm demeanor was not returning anytime soon.

"Didn't you two go out last night?" she asked.

"We did at that," confirmed Logan.

"Have a nice time?" inquired Emma.

"Yep."

"And you, Ororo?"

"Yes."

"What time did you get home?"

"Oh I don't know! What does it matter?" exclaimed Ororo who was ready to fling her coffee into Emma's smug looking face.

"You went to T'Challa's party together didn't you?"

"No! Of course not! He called me and said Logan was being a nuisance and he wanted me to go get him but when I got there It looked like the only one being a nuisance was me for being so stupid to have let him trap me again!"

"Whoa, chère, Stormy, calm down!" Remy said, now up and hugging her. "Dis ain't like you, chère," he whispered and tried to guide her out of the room where she could rant about her ex in private as she usually did with him.

"Oh, this is me alright!" Ororo shouted though she let him hold her. "This is me, Ororo Munroe! Believe it or not I am a human with flesh and blood feelings and I'm entitled to scream and shout just as much as any other woman!"

"No one said you weren't, although your mutant power is showing," Emma remarked with a nod towards the window which was now being pelted with rain.

Ororo drew in a deep breath, pulled free of Remy then strode out of the kitchen and into the rainstorm she'd inadvertently created.

"And now we know why the Ice Princess, as some call our beloved Ororo, must forever remain an ice princess otherwise we'd all be struck by lightning or at the very least baling water out of the basement. Logan you really should be more careful next time," observed Emma.

"Me? What did that have ta do with me? You ask me it's her ex ya oughta be puttin' the blame on!" Logan said.

"Maybe she didn't like you dancing with a bloody stripper," Emma replied.

"She wasn't a stripper, she was a cheerleader," clarified Logan.

"Not much of a difference if she was giving you a lap dance is there?"

"Aren't you two, like . . . dating?" asked Jubilee.

"We're just friends," Logan said, his face darkening as he remembered Ororo's comments last night about their lust driven friendship.

"Well, maybe you should stay away from T'Challa," suggested Kitty.

"Why? He ruined my night, I ruined his," Logan muttered then walked out with his coffee.

"What kind of game is this!" wailed Emma.

"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.

"Look at them, she's mad at him, he's mad at her, the ex is involved – and whatever for?"

"Remy gonna go talk ta Stormy," the Cajun muttered and ducked out of the room leaving the girls to discuss his best friend's unusual melt down.

But though he looked in all her usual hiding places he couldn't find her. Had he thought to look up at the darkening sky he would've seen her high above the school flying in the midst of the storm fuming silently. Emma's idea was as stupid as she'd known it was, Ororo told herself. Not letting Logan spend the night had just led him to turn to someone else. Men! You'd never understand them if you lived to be a million years old which Logan probably would after having a gazillion more women than the trillion he'd already slept with. It was like some kind of horrific chess game that you could never finish therefore never have the remotest chance of winning.

She was more than upset. She was hurt. It was a different kind of hurt than the kind she sometimes felt when she saw T'Challa out with someone else. With her ex it was a dull ache, missing things that should have been, but with Logan she felt as if her heart were breaking into tiny pieces. Seeing him with that girl on his lap, and not just any girl but the typical girl every man wanted – blonde and busty and beautiful! No wonder Emma kept dying her hair and refilling those implants. The thought was depressing.

"Well, that's that. I wanted to know if I was the one and now I know I'm not," she said and with a loop in the sky headed back home.

**-xox-**

"The second thing you need to do in order to rope your man in is to make him jealous."

Ororo stopped in her tracks having just overheard Emma give some more of her bad advice to some unsuspecting student. She'd been on her way to meet up with Scott and Rogue after drying off from the rainstorm and changing but that was the last thing on her mind now.

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Ororo as she entered the rec room where she found Emma sitting on a sofa, her audience Jubilee and Kitty.

"You did say no games," Jubilee reminded Emma.

"I did and you shouldn't but this isn't."

"I don't get it."

"Men must feel as if they're the one person that makes your world go round and as soon as you let him know he has competition he'll be ready to stake his claim."

"That's a game," Kitty said, calling her on it.

"It's petty incentive to encourage him to get his priorities straight," replied Emma.

"It's a game in other words."

"No, Kitty darling, it's strategy."

"Emma, what I don't understand is if you're so capable in getting and keeping a man why hasn't Scott asked you to marry him?" asked Ororo.

"That's a good question, Storm," Jubilee said.

"No, it isn't really, Jubilee, you see I'm not in a rush to get married. I want to . . . savor our relationship."

"Then you're not sleeping with him, the better to savor your relationship I presume," persisted Ororo.

"What I do in private is of no concern of yours."

"No? You're giving advice that doesn't work. I don't feel you have the right to mislead anyone, especially not Kitty and Jubilee."

"I take it that you've tried my suggestion then."

Ororo bit her lip in anger then quickly smiled and tried to regain her composure.

"So it didn't work," Emma noted. "But I'm sure I told you it wouldn't, not with Logan."

"We are not talking about me. I'm talking about . . ."

"You're upset, Ororo dear, because the man you're with isn't going to break down and ask you to be his, and I understand. Trust me; I do understand which is why I know what works. I am still here am I not? And I am very much with Scott am I not?"

"But you're very much not married, are you not?" retaliated Ororo with gusto.

"Let me reiterate. I am not trying to get Scott to marry me."

"Like he married Jean?"

"Jean had different needs than I do. Jean was needier, she wanted the little house with white picket fence and children but I realize children only ruin your figure."

"You mean you're not like every woman then, clamoring to get married?" Kitty joked.

"It isn't as if I couldn't get Scott to marry me but you must admit it would seem a little inappropriate so soon after Jean's passing."

"Jean's passing! You didn't wait for the divorce!" scoffed Ororo.

"Of course you would see it that way, however your facts are entirely wrong besides it's not just Jean's passing it's . . . well there has been so much death of late, his father, Kurt . . ."

"You're leaving out Sean and I'm sure I can name a slew of others that have passed – Sam's brother Icarus for one – is that the time frame you call recent? Or do you think Scott's still grieving over Dryad, poor Callie, and all the other students on that bus after they lost their powers? How about Wallflower or Max Jordan, Quill, for that matter? Is it too soon after their deaths, too much for Scott to handle is that it, Emma?"

"I don't think you should go there," Kitty warned.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Kitty," Ororo said.

"I think we should go," Kitty said as she leaped up and beckoned for Jubilee to follow.

"It was just getting interesting and you already have a man!" complained Jubilee.

"Yeah, but I know a guy in S.H.I.E.L.D you might like, come on, we'll look up his Facebook."'

"Is he cute?"

"Yep."

Jubilee got up and followed Kitty leaving the erstwhile enemies alone.

"You know how I feel about every student, especially those I've lost, but since I realize you're quite upset over Logan I shall let that pass this once. I do know what your problem is," Emma told Ororo who heaved a heavy sigh. "You want Logan but he's not biting is he?"

Ororo's eyes widened. "Well, you certainly aren't reading my mind," she said, "because if you were we wouldn't be talking about Logan."

"Ororo, darling I'm only trying to help you. Now tell me what brand of cologne does Mr. Panther wear?"

"Cologne?"

Emma sighed now, "Yes, cologne, a fragrance, a scent. I know he wears something even if it's just aftershave."

"Why?"

"Well, because he wears Armani suits, a man like that . . ."

"No, Emma why do you care what cologne he wears?"

"I can find out on my own certainly. It shouldn't be difficult to look into his mind, he's not exactly well trained in the art of hiding his thoughts, _then_ you'll see how helpful I can be."

Ororo shook her head and stalked out. She was going to be late and Scott hated tardiness. Well, she'd make sure she told him the entire story, make sure he knew what his girlfriend was up to.

"Poor, poor, Ororo, can't keep her man," Emma mused. "Well, maybe Fairy Godmother Emma will lend a helping hand."

**-xox-**

Scott gave Ororo his patented death glare when she entered the ready room. She knew it was the death glare he always gave when anyone was late even if she couldn't see his eyes because of the way his lips quickly pressed together into the thinnest of lines. She considered that she might know Scott quite a lot better than Emma even though they'd never been that close. They'd known each other for years now, gone through things so traumatic she didn't know how they could have logically survived but they had and it had bonded them. She'd spent enough time with Jean and Scott to feel they were family, seen him lose loved ones, find loves ones and she'd been there for Jean when they thought Scott was lost to them. She'd spent holidays and vacations with him and Jean and the other X-Men, all things Emma had only been doing for a few years.

Emma wasn't an easy fit with the X-Men. Unlike Rogue, many of the X-Men just kind of thought, once the White Queen of the Hellfire Club always the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. It was a lot like how they viewed Erik. Sometimes he was Magneto their number one villain to defeat and other times, like now, he was an ally, an ally they were never quite sure if they could trust but one they mostly hoped they could though truthfully they wouldn't be at all surprised if he rose up against them. It was shaky ground. Ororo had a feeling she could use that shaky ground to open his eyes so he could see the truths about Emma that he'd so obviously failed to see.

"Sorry for being late, I ran into Emma, she was having a discussion with Kitty and Jubilee," Ororo apologized.

"Oh. Well, that's okay, Ororo," Scott said and smiled.

It was unexpected. Scott had a lovely smile. Ororo had always thought so. She supposed you couldn't help but notice or think so because that's really all you could see of his face beside his nose. His lips were nice, in fact she'd wondered what they'd be like to kiss once or twice after Jean had teased her about him having fantasies about her in her bathing suit. But he wasn't her type at all. They didn't seem to have any common ground. She'd seen him watching the latest Transformer DVD while wondering out loud how he could out maneuver the Sentinels as if Sentinels acted like Transformers instead of seeing how unrealistic their moves were compared to real giant robotic creatures of mass destruction seeking to exterminate all mutant life forms. Maybe that was a good thing though, she mused, maybe it was good he still had that eagerness to overcome anything thrown at him and yet still actually enjoy mindless entertainment that she and Logan only enjoyed laughing at. She smiled now, glad she hadn't said anything untoward. Emma had a point, Scott had gone through a lot lately. He was harder now, surer of himself too, and also a little more human.

"You and Emma getting along alright?" Scott asked, still smiling.

"The usual," she replied truthfully.

"Alright. Well, let's get started. Rogue how's your team doing?"

Ororo didn't hear Rogue's answer; she felt like laughing with sudden pleasure. She really loved Scott, how could she not when Jean had adored the very earth he walked on? She respected him as well. He'd earned it, and if Emma was his choice, warts and all, who was she to attempt to throw a wrench into the mix? After all what could Emma possibly do to make things worse?

After the meeting Ororo headed to the Danger Room to let off some steam, She wanted to punch something and thought she'd try Scott's Transformer program which was actually pretty hard she decided when she got snatched up by Megatron who laughed gleefully at her paltry human efforts to free herself. Fortunately for her someone sent the robot careening and though she wasn't freed from its grip it did loosen enough so she was able to recover her breath and send enough volts of electricity into it so that Megatron's hand crumpled and fell allowing her to fly out of harm's way.

"Wanna go out tonight, darlin'?" Logan asked as Ororo used her winds to lower herself to the ground.

"You know I didn't need your help."

"Didn't say you did, I just saw you runnin' this program an' couldn't believe it was Megatron – whose idea was this?"

"Scott's."

"Really? Huh, never would've guessed that. Figured maybe Bobby or Guido or . . ."

"Where?" she asked as she wiped her uniform free of bits of metal. She hadn't expected him to ask her out again.

"Where? Oh, yeah, we could go see that movie maybe."

"Okay, that sounds like fun."

Unfortunately though the evening didn't turn out to be fun. Logan decided he was hungry and wanted to eat before the movie and so on the spur of the moment he dragged her to this new Thai restaurant where the atmosphere turned out to be anything but appetizing.

"Fancy running into you two again," T'Challa said as he dropped into an empty chair across from Ororo who felt both ill and a little guilty at the sight of her ex. "Now who's following who?" he asked her though they were clearly finishing their meal and he was arriving.

She gave him a restrained smile.

"You two ever think about hookin' up again?" Logan asked.

Ororo's mouth fell but T'Challa leaned over the table almost eagerly and asked, "Do you, Ororo?"

"I think I'm going to be sick," she said and got up.

Both men stood, both concerned, but she waved them off and hurried to the restroom.

"You're wasting your time you know," T'Challa said after they'd sat down and were waiting for Ororo to come back.

"Do tell."

"She's never going to belong to anyone but me. She might think she's free from our bond but she isn't, the Panther God decreed it, she'll never be free of me or Wakanda."

Logan laughed. "Yeah? You know, the thing is Ro's a big girl," he said. "She don't belong to anyone and if you didn't see how disgusted she is with you then you need ta make a trip ta see the wizard 'cause you ain't got nothin' in that brain of yours, bub."

"You think you can mess with my wife and get away with it?"

"She ain't your wife."

"You . . ."

"Hey, boo," a woman cooed in T'Challa's ear as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"You're playing the wrong card," Logan told him, "Ororo don't get jealous." He got up and walked away.

He couldn't help smirking as he recalled how jealous Ororo had been about the cheerleader. What he'd said was true, he'd never seen her jealous before, not over Forge, not over T'Challa, and never over him, that is until now. The truth was that the lap dance had started out as fun but he'd started thinking about Ororo doing those moves which completely took the fun out of it because some woman he'd just met wasn't in any way going to be able to replace Ororo. It was another thing about the night that had thrown him.

All night everything had kind of been off balanced. Dinner had started out great and ended up a complete bust. They'd had as much fun as they used to have so he'd figured whatever had been bothering Ororo wasn't bothering her anymore which was a relief. It had been good to laugh and talk without some shadow of something he didn't want sneaking into their relationship and looming over their evenings together. Lately she'd become a little reticent as if something was bothering her and he'd had a bad feeling about what it was having seen many a woman fall under the same kind of spell but he'd never expected Ororo to get the commitment bug. The thing was, after running into T'Challa, well it had kind of made _him_ a little jealous and he'd only been jealous a few times in his life, mostly having to do with Scott and Jean so that had been and was still disconcerting.

He'd thought everything was going fine after T'Challa left and then Ororo had turned him away as if he'd done something wrong. Yeah, he'd been a little upset but mostly he was angry with T'Challa for trying to mess with her head so of course a little payback was called for. Logan would've let it go at first if only because Ororo was his and he was anticipating an evening where he was going to show her she was his but when she'd sent him packing there was no way he was going to let it go then. Even if T'Challa had thought to take his women back from Nick and locked himself in his bedroom to enjoy his night Logan had been prepared to take further action to ensure that wasn't happening, that is until the cheerleaders arrived.

Okay, he'd been admiring those cute little skirts and everything else as they walked in but he couldn't help wondering how Ororo would look in one of those outfits. And when that cheerleader and him had made eye contact and she'd made a beeline for him and immediately started putting her stuff all in his face he'd wished it was Ororo. That was the worse case of lap dance gone wrong he'd ever experienced, he thought now as he waited for Ororo to come out of the restroom. It had gotten worse too. After he'd gotten rid of the cheerleader he'd almost thought about going home, maybe see if Ororo was still up, maybe just hang out, then T'Challa had come up to him laughing that crow like laugh of his as if he'd won.

This wasn't a contest, it was unspoken war. The man had come into his territory, tried to mess with his woman and thought he'd gotten away with it. And then he'd caught Ororo's scent on T'Challa who told him she'd come over and was planning to spend the night! The first thing he'd wanted to do was punch T'Challa and the second thing he wanted to do was down a vatof whiskey so he wouldn't feel as if he'd been punched in the throat. He'd left almost right after that, feeling like a fool.

Logan started pacing in the short hallway outside the restrooms wondering what was taking Ororo so long. She'd said they were just friends, sleeping together was just sex to her. Not that it wasn't for him too, in fact he was hoping they could skip the movie and move on to dessert – if she was feeling alright – and he meant to make love to her all night till she begged him to stop. Still, it wasn't just the sex that kept drawing him back to Ororo. What was really bothering him was that he'd thought she wanted more and he'd been worried about taking that next step with her and now she didn't want anything more and he realized that he'd already assumed it was more.

"Hey, you good?" he asked when she finally came out.

"I don't feel well, can we go home?"

He nodded feeling disappointed. Another ruined night and again T'Challa's fault. But he didn't let that stop him from trying to make sure she was feeling better. When they got home he offered to get aspirin and water for her, even juice. She thought he looked a little hopeful especially when she came out of her bathroom dressed in just an oversized t-shirt. She thought it was nothing sexy, didn't know he always liked how her bottom occasionally peeked out from under it when she walked. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea, he'd been so eager to make sure she was okay that she hadn't known how to send him away, had actually hoped he'd get the hint and leave before she'd finished in the bathroom but there he was helping her to the bed. She guessed he wanted to spend the night but she was pretty sure she wasn't ever going there again though she knew it would be nice to fall asleep in his arms. She didn't give in to her baser feelings though, just asked him to turn the light off, to take the fifty dollar bill on the dresser, then rolled over, and said goodnight.

Well, Logan hadn't expect that. He'd spent the night with her once before when she hadn't been feeling well. They hadn't done anything, just slept together though he'd gotten up a few times to get her tissues and juice. He'd kind of assumed he'd do the same tonight, kind of cuddle, make her feel a little better. Now she was offering him money for his services? What was with her wanting to pay her own way now? For a second he thought about taking the money but he left it where it was. Let her feel like she owed him something, he thought. Acting like that, paying her share, made him think she was trying to dump him which puzzled and angered him. One moment she was jealous, the next she's telling him things were going to change. Yeah, they were changing alright and he was going to be the one to make the changes.

For the second night in a row Ororo was woken up with the insistent ringing of her phone. She groaned, rolled over onto her back and contemplated the pros and cons of answering it or letting it continue to ring. Finally when she saw whoever was calling wasn't taking voice mail for an answer and just kept calling back she snatched the phone up.

"He's here again," whispered T'Challa.

"What?"

"Your little runt, he's here again and I just had the carpet cleaned! Come get him."

"I don't want to, I'm tired. I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Too busy thinking about me, huh?"

"No, too busy thinking about how stupid men are."

"Come on, baby come help me out."

"I didn't help last time."

"Yeah? Well, he left after he smelled you – I mean he didn't stay long, took that woman and went somewhere."

Ororo sat up. She suddenly realized T'Challa was lying. It wasn't that she knew him so well but that she'd checked the surveillance cameras to see what time Logan had come home and it wasn't too much later than she had. Not only that but T'Challa had let Logan think she'd spent the night with him so what was her ex up to, she wondered?

"Okay, so what's in it for me if I come rescue you from Logan?"

"Maybe we could have a drink, go for a carriage ride in the park."

Ororo rolled her eyes. She had the oddest feeling that he was serious.

"Are you alone?" she asked.

"Um, will be once you get here."

"And your date?"

"She's getting ready to leave."

"Or give someone a lap dance."

"Baby, she doesn't mean anything to me if that's what you mean."

"Are you sleeping with her?"

"No! I haven't slept with anyone since we broke up!"

"I find that hard to believe not that I care because I don't, T'Challa."

"So are you coming or not?"

"I don't know."

"Look, wear that red dress you had on the other night," he said and she could swear she heard anticipation in his voice.

"I don't know."

"Come on, Ororo, I've missed you, baby."

"Oh alright, I guess I'll come."

She rolled onto her side again and closed her eyes. She wasn't looking forward to seeing what bimbo Logan was mixed up in this time but she needed to learn how to let him go just like she'd learned how to let T'Challa go only she was lonely and, yes, horny, and he was her ex husband and would it be a crime if she just gave in for one night? She debated the question as she slipped into her red dress and heels.

This time when she arrived she spent considerably more time patting her hair into place. She'd caught a taxi so it had taken much longer to get to the penthouse but she'd needed the extra time to talk herself into and then out of and then back into what she knew she shouldn't do but probably was going to do. After she paid the driver, leaving a substantial tip, peered into the car's side mirror and was satisfied with how she looked she shot up into the air and landed on the terrace.

"Whoa, Ro! What're you doin' here?" Logan asked when she landed just a few feet from him.

"I'm on a date," she said, remembering Emma's advice, her hands settling her hair in place again.

Logan sniffed. He sniffed again and took a step closer to her. "You been with him tonight?" he barked.

"Him? Who?"

Logan looked at the outfit she had on and for once he wasn't aroused. She stank of T'Challa. He felt sick and turned around and went back inside.

That wasn't the reaction she'd hoped for, she thought as she followed him into the penthouse.

"Hey, baby – oh, wow! You do look fine in that dress!" T'Challa greeted her and pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, 'Roro," Ben Grimm shouted, "Come ta play?"

Another card game? She waved to Ben as she pushed T'Challa away. Logan tapped Nick Fury on the shoulder and with a jerk of his head indicated he wanted to talk to him. Well, she thought, that seemed to have worked. but she tried not to think how Emma's stupid first step to hold on to your man hadn't worked. She was sorry for stooping this low but he needed to see she had other options and if he wanted her he needed to let her know.

"I gotta straight flush," Luke said then, "What up, Ororo?"

"Not much. How are Jessica and Danielle?"

"Good."

"You sure that heart's not a diamond – move your thumb!" griped Johnny.

"Boy, don't mess with me!" growled Luke.

"Hello, Johnny," Ororo said.

"Oh, hi, Ororo. You look like a dime," greeted Johnny.

She chuckled but noticed he hardly glanced at her. In fact even Luke barely looked at her.

"Johnny, whyn't you go get us some burgers an' wings an' stuff," suggested Ben.

"Sure thing!" Johnny said, bobbing up lightning quick and racing for the door.

"Sit down, 'Roro, take da kid's chair, have a beer," directed Ben as he pulled a bottle from the cooler on the floor beside him.

"Um, okay." And down she sat, taking the proffered beer.

"Hello, Ororo," Nick said when he slid into his seat. "You look beautiful as always."

"Thank you, Nicholas, how are you?"

"Same as usual."

"What, where'd da little guy go? I already sent Johnny fer eats," Ben said when he looked around and didn't see Logan.

"Were you and Logan going out?" asked Nick who then continued without waiting for her reply, "He's got some X-Force business he's got to see to so it looks like you're gonna have to be my date tonight, Ororo."

"Huh?" gasped Ororo and T'Challa.

"Ororo isn't . . ." T'Challa started to say but Nick cut him off.

"You need any tips on how to play you can sit by me," Nick offered.

"Hey!" T'Challa cried.

"Let da woman play, T'Challa, in fact I got a hundred says she beats you," Ben said.

"I think I can hold my own," said Ororo.

"I bet you can! Hey, T'Challa think maybe we should call Tony Stark, see if he'd like to join us?"

This stopped T'Challa dead in his tracks. He looked at Nick, mouth open, eyes wide. "What the hell for?" he said and turned and walked into his bedroom.

So Ororo stayed, had a few beers, and played cards with the guys while T'Challa sulked in his room. Johnny came back with food but Logan never came back. Finally Nick told her he'd take her home and the party broke up.

"You leaving finally? Good, erm, Ororo we need to talk," T'Challa said when he heard the door close a few times and found only Nick and Ororo still there.

Ever the gentleman Nick went out into the hallway whereupon T'Challa pounced upon Ororo, pulling her to him and kissing her. She could smell alcohol on his breath, apparently he'd had his own little party in his room. She thought she should be glad he wanted her back, everything was just as it always was, his love for her, his desire for her. He was her prince, safe and familiar. But alcohol or not she saw the truth of their relationship. Maybe he had loved her, maybe he still did but she just didn't love him back. Maybe that's the reason his kisses seemed more sloppy than soft now that she wasn't confused anymore. Thankfully Nick came back in, took her by the arm and escorted her out while T'Challa fought to contain his anger.

When Ororo got home she was a little tipsy but glad she'd had the wherewithal not to give into her ex's desires. It was harder when she drank too much, something she'd only done towards the end of their marriage, but even tipsy she'd been repulsed by T'Challa tonight. She knew they were over now. There wouldn't be any thoughts of occasional sex with her ex and no more doubts. She dropped down onto her bed and giggled as she remembered how upset T'Challa had looked when she'd left with Nick. She wondered what Logan would think if he knew she'd left with Nick – her date for the night. She laughed again.

"You have a nice time with your husband?" Logan's deep voice came out of no where.

Ororo jumped and looked around the dark room. She heard the balcony door slide open, felt the night breeze and then she felt the bed sink a little and was jostled a bit when he made his way towards her.

"What are you doing here, Logan?"

"Waiting for you just like you waited for me last night, darlin'."

"I-I didn't wait for you."

"Yeah, you did."

She grit her teeth, annoyed that he was partly right. She hadn't been able to sleep for thinking about him and she'd finally just gotten out of bed before dawn to check when he'd come home but how would he even know that?

His hands brushed her arms and then she was being pulled close to his bare chest. She breathed in, even more annoyed that all she smelled was T'Challa's overbearing cologne clinging to her dress. The man always wore too much.

"Miss me?" Logan whispered before his hands then lips settled on her throat.

"Always," she moaned truthfully as he kissed and lightly bit at her neck. It was childish but something they both enjoyed, a juvenile form of marking one's territory. Tomorrow she'd have a faint passion mark, a little painful, a little erotic but a reminder to both of them that she was his, at least till it faded.

"You know what I'm going to do to you," he told her.

"Mmmm! Yes I do," she sighed but even tipsy she remembered what she had to do. She wasn't drunk enough to forget that she was only going to get hurt if she stayed in this relationship with Logan. She needed something more than sex. "But I can't," she told him.

Still, Logan kissed her and she melted into him. She didn't want to say no, he wasn't going to let her say no. Somehow they were rolling on her bed, clothes coming off, his masterful way overwhelming her and Ororo wanted to forget everything she'd been so worried about, wanted to just give in, to take what she could, to accept nothing more but this moment only she couldn't. She wasn't a kid with no thought of tomorrow. She needed more than a literal roll in the sack and had to face up to that.

Logan felt her stiffen then when he tried to kiss her again. He sighed and released her. "Are you still in love with the Panther, Ro is that it?" he wanted to know.

"No, I'm not!"

"Then what's wrong? Did I do something? Say something wrong? Got bad breath or somethin'?"

She giggled. "No, you didn't do anything, Logan, this . . . it . . . we just aren't going to work – I love you too much," she confessed, tottering a little unsteadily on the bed as she reached for him,.

He caught hold of her. It was the last thing she remembered.

**A/N –** Sorry for the delay, few family issues and getting over a cold, but hopefully I'll have the last chapter, which is alrelady finished, tweaked before my trip this coming weekend or at least have it posted by next Sunday night. And wow! I never realized there were so many RoLo fans out there so thank you all for letting me know this is still a fandom people enjoy. Also, for anyone interested in my story African Skies and Canadian Whiskey I really do intend to work on it this year but I can't make any promises at this time. It's not forgotten though it seems as if it has been.


	3. The Course of Love

**The Games We Play – by Darlin**

**A/N –**I'm sorry it took me two weeks to get this chapter out but everything started happening right after another, a death in the family, a great uncle I hadn't seen in decades but that meant I had to ferry everyone around as I tend to be the chauffeur even though everyone can drive, my computer firewalls went down and couldn't be put back up for a few days and I really, really couldn't get this last chapter tweaked to make it work. It was twenty two pages long so it took a while to restructure it and for me to realize I'd have to cut it into two chapters which means the three chapter story I started out with will end up with a fourth, the epilogue. And please forgive any mistakes. I tried to proof this several times and only keep adding to it which means I need to proof it all over again but it's 5am and I'm exhausted and am off to bed for a few hours before work. At least I'll feel good when I get there knowing I finally posted this

**Chapter Three – The Course of Love**

**-xox-**

While Logan held Ororo as she slept, he kept going over what she'd told him before she'd passed out. She loved him. And yet she stunk of T'Challa, her clothes, her skin – he should've made her take a shower he thought with slight annoyance. But he wasn't really upset with her. Holding her like that, being with her after she'd turned him away the past few nights gave him a feeling of immense well being. Being with her always made him feel content. She kind of kept the edge off, tempered him. He'd always felt right with her, like what he was, what he brought to the table was good enough for her, for both of them. And it had been good enough too until she'd gone off the deep end and had pretty much let him know they were finished. But if she really felt that way then why tell him she loved him? It just didn't add up. And there were all the coincidences with her ex. There were so many that Logan was pretty sure T'Challa was the one playing games and not Ororo. But she was acting so strange he didn't know what was going on with her any more. He'd wanted to talk, to find out, maybe fix things if he could – if he dared – which is why he'd been waiting for her after her so called "date".

"Date!" he harrumphed now then looked down at Ororo hoping he hadn't disturbed her.

She looked beautifully disheveled as she often did since she often manipulated the winds. It touched his heart. Everything about her inexplicably touched him even now when he should be furious with her, even now when he'd wanted to kill her for coming back smelling of the man she'd divorced almost half a year ago. But he needed to know did she want to be with him or did she want to be with T'Challa? She had to know he wasn't going to share her! Maybe they hadn't come out and said anything but he thought they had a perfectly good understanding. He wasn't seeing anyone but her and he'd assumed she wasn't seeing anyone but him. He didn't want to think she was using him, trying to get T'Challa jealous, but when he'd let himself into her room he'd almost been overpowered by T'Challa's stench which was even stronger than when he'd smelled the Panther's cologne on her at the penthouse. His imagination had run rampant thinking about how the nauseating odor had gotten into her room while he'd sat out on the balcony as the night wore on, trying not to smell the stink of another man thick in his woman's room. His sour mood had gotten even worse when she'd finally pranced in laughing as if she were laughing at him, playing him, her breath reeking of booze and T'Challa.

When he'd gone to her, held her, his hands on her arms weren't caressing. He was pulling her to him because he had the need to feel her beneath him, her beautiful long neck caught between his hands squeezing the life from her. But she'd fallen against his chest telling him what he'd both dreaded to hear her say and yet longed to hear her say.

"I love you . . ." she'd whispered and then she was asleep snoring lightly against his chest. And his chest had filled with emotions he hadn't been prepared for.

Jealousy had never reared its ugly head in their relationship before and yet he'd wanted to kill T'Challa. He'd even wanted to kill her! She still stunk of her ex husband but she was there with him, not T'Challa, and she'd told him she loved him not T'Challa! She loved _him_! He held onto her all through the night not sure what to think or how to feel. He knew better than most that the things people say when they're inebriated were truths never dared spoken when sober. He just didn't know what to do because this was his Ororo, both best friend and lover and frankly he adored her. But love? Love could ruin everything they had, everything that he cherished. Would they end up like her and T'Challa?

**-xox-**

Ororo was so tired she didn't wake till shortly before noon. She felt groggy and slightly nausea as she laid in bed and she had a vague, niggling feeling that she might have told Logan something she shouldn't have told him. She'd drunk so much the night before her that her head was killing her and she was having a hard time thinking clearly but unfortunately everything that had happened last night slowly began to come back to her. She _had_ told Logan she loved him! But looking around the room she saw Logan was gone. She suddenly felt ill and wanted to curl up into a ball and never leave her room again. She clearly remembered falling on him, clinging to him, telling him everything that was in her heart. Well no wonder he was gone! She'd made a crucial mistake. Every woman knew better than to tell a man she loved him before the man told her he loved her! She'd obviously had too much to drink causing her to lose all common sense but oh, why did this have to happen to her? Why couldn't this be easier? Why couldn't you navigate the course of love without fear? Why couldn't love make sense?

Fortunately it was Sunday and almost everyone would be relaxing and trying to avoid Scott who would surely be planning one of his impromptu meetings with whomever he could find so it was unlikely anyone would bother her and it gave her another reason to stay in bed. She didn't want to listen to this new, more confident Scott drone on about things they'd gone over a hundred times before. She didn't want to see anyone, just wanted to hide under the covers. She felt miserable. What was that expression American's used in a case like this?

"Can't win for losing," she muttered and then, with sudden decisiveness, "I'm going to wring Emma's neck!"

But she didn't go in search of the White Queen because she was too afraid of running into Logan. All day Ororo hid from Logan hoping he wouldn't drop by and though she didn't know it Logan had no intention of dropping by because _he_ was hiding from Ororo.

She kept going over what Emma had said. Essentially Logan was a man whore who wasn't going to commit, didn't want marriage. It was obvious Logan didn't want her and she was pretty sure she'd scared him away with her drunken confession. For all the world she didn't want to believe it had happened but she was ninety-nine percent sure that she had indeed confessed how she felt about him, that it wasn't a welcomed nightmare but an alcohol soaked reality. Besides that there were two fifty dollar bills on her nightstand proof he had been there and proof he didn't believe in going Dutch. She dreaded the week to come and hibernated in her room until the next day.

Monday morning it was breakfast as usual with good morning salutations all around as if nothing had changed and no one guessed at her stupidity. Logan immediately poured her a mug of coffee as he usually did if he got there before her and though she didn't usually want it unless she was exceptionally tired (she wasn't after dozing all Sunday) and preferred tea most mornings she drank it anyway to seem natural which made him look at her and think she wasn't acting natural at all.

Logan still didn't know what to think or what to do. Had she meant she loved him like a friend, like she loved the other X-Men or did she mean she'd fallen in love with him? And if it was the latter then how to let her down easy? Because he'd decided that was his only recourse.

"Wanna go out tonight, my treat?" he asked her during lunch, having found her hiding out on the terrace eating a sandwich and drinking a coke all by herself.

"I don't know," she said not looking up. "It's a school night you know."

"We'll go dancing," he said.

"Dancing?" She looked at him now. "You don't like dancing."

"You do."

He grinned at her surprise.

"Dancing?" she queried again.

"Yup. Wanna?"

"Uh . . . okay."

"It's a date then."

A date? She almost panicked but quickly collected herself. Since he'd asked her out that had to mean he hadn't heard what she thought she'd said or she hadn't said what she thought she'd said and it must have all been a silly dream. Well, that was a relief! But she'd not have more than one glass of wine with dinner tonight she vowed to herself.

Only that didn't turn out as she'd planned because T'Challa came strutting into the restaurant she and Logan had chosen. Heads turned to admire him, people excited to know they were in the presence of royalty. It turned her stomach when she remembered how people had fawned all over her when she was married to him and sadly how she'd taken a liking to it. It had been all too familiar from her days being worshiped as a goddess in Kenya but it had also somehow seemed wrong this time around. He had two women with him again and stopped by to say hello, rubbing her face in his women. Logan barely acknowledged him he just kept staring at her.

The way Logan was watching her was disturbing and it was making her uncomfortable something she never was around him. She wanted to ask him why he kept looking at her like that but she kind of knew already. For all she wished he hadn't heard her tipsy confession the way he was looking at her must mean that he had heard and now he was trying to figure out how to let her down easy. The thought made her want to cry. She felt sick to her stomach and laughed out loud at her stupidity – all she needed was to throw up again she thought and then she was up and running through the packed restaurant hurrying to get to the bathroom.

"You okay?" Logan asked when she came back.

"I'm . . . I'm just stressed," she said as she sat down. "Too much T'Challa that's all." She'd wished she'd vomited all over her ex husband instead of all over the commode.

"Still wanna check out that new club?" he asked.

"I don't know." She suddenly spied T'Challa who was almost leaning out of his seat watching them and then just as suddenly an idea came to her and she said, "I'm thinking about getting back with T'Challa." And then she smiled, relieved she'd prevented herself from being dumped by dumping him first. She felt better but also worse. She wished she could throw up again, throw up all the mixed up, twisted feelings of love and doubt and idiocy but instead she had another glass of wine.

He didn't say much during the rest of dinner or afterward not even when T'Challa came over when they were getting ready to leave. He just watched as T'Challa tried to engage Ororo in conversation as if he and his two dates weren't even there.

"Well, maybe I'll call you later, Ororo," T'Challa said looking at her hopefully. "We'll go out again," he added and gave Logan a smug look.

"I'm not really feeling that well, T'Challa," Ororo told him.

"I can come over maybe . . ."

Logan stepped in now and said, "She said she ain't feelin' so good, can't you take a hint?"

T'Challa glared at him while the women glared at Ororo. Ororo had to admit she enjoyed that, the jealousy clear on their faces. And why shouldn't they be jealous? She might not be the typical woman whether black or white or any other color but she was unique and confident of whom she was for the most part and she knew T'Challa still cared for her and was just using those women to make her jealous. She suddenly felt sorry for him, the poor man. He just hadn't accepted that he couldn't fix what could never be fixed. She didn't love him and she'd been wrong to marry him. In fact, she was ashamed of herself for having used him even though she'd used him unintentionally. She'd wanted to feel loved, to feel special, but she should never have substituted him for the broad shouldered, short, little, hairy guy standing next to her who was doing his very best to restrain himself because that broad shouldered, short, little, hairy guy standing next to her was the man she'd been in love with for years, she'd just never had the courage to tell him unless inebriated apparently.

"Can I see you a moment?" she asked her ex.

"Of course," said T'Challa giving Logan a triumphant look.

"You know we're not getting back together," Ororo said once they were outside the restaurant.

T'Challa caught her by both arms, ignoring the people streaming by who were looking at them curiously as if maybe they should know who the interesting looking woman was at least.

"You say that now but if you'll just give it another chance, Ororo . . ."

"No. I can't. I don't love you, T'Challa and I'm sorry for that. I never meant to hurt you. I – I was in love with someone else before we got married and I just didn't realize it."

"No you weren't!"

Ororo frowned. "You always think you know me so well, T'Challa but you don't know anything about me."

"Well who's the guy then, huh?"

She sighed but didn't answer.

"Ah hell no!" exclaimed T'Challa letting her go in sudden anger, "Not the runt?"

"The runt has a name but yes, Logan. I love him. He and I've been friends for years and you and me – T'Challa we barely saw each other half a dozen times over the years and then just out of the blue you asked me to marry you. I guess I got swept off my feet by all the sudden attention and I think it severely clouded my judgment. If I'd been thinking clearly I would have realized what we had as children couldn't be enough to make a marriage work. We can't even get our stories straight on how we met. I'm sorry, T but you have a flock of beautiful women to be with; maybe one of them will be the right one for you."

"They aren't like you, Ororo. No one I've ever met is like you."

"No, I suppose not but you were in love with someone else long before we got married, maybe you should look Monica up again."

"Monica?"

"I don't know, T'Challa maybe she's the one, after all you were with her for so long. But I don't think she'd appreciate it if you were hanging around all these women any more than I do. You can't win someone back by trying to make them jealous, trust me."

"I wasn't . . ."

She put her hand on his forearm. He looked at it as if he couldn't quite fathom what it was, why she'd touched him. She shook her head and said, "We're not getting back together. We both need to let it go. I'll always love you because you were my first crush but that's all it ever was and all it ever could be, just my first crush."

He shook his head. "No. I don't believe that." And he wrapped his arms around her, held onto her tight. "We can be good again," he whispered and tried to kiss her but Ororo had had enough. She lifted her arms and forcibly broke his hold.

"Damn, I'm not the enemy, Ororo!"

"I'm not so sure, T'Challa but I do know that I don't want you to be the enemy."

He watched her walk away certain she would come back, certain that she hadn't meant what she'd said, certain she'd turn around, laugh, maybe wink playfully, but the door to the restaurant closed behind her without her having looked back once. He stood there feeling at a complete loss, unable to think of what to say or do. He was stunned. He'd been so sure he'd been breaking her down. Make the woman jealous and she'd be fighting tooth and nail to get you back and beat down the woman you used to make her jealous or at least that's what Luke had told him once. Luke's advice was as bad as his grammar T'Challa thought distractedly. His ire rose as he remembered how Luke had turned actual turncoat on him, taking Logan's side in his silent battle with Wolverine. Maybe it was time for a new woman and a new friend he thought and he started down the street.

Logan stared at Ororo when she sat down. She was smiling and she looked truly stunning. He suddenly felt cold and empty inside. To him it looked as if she and T'Challa were finally getting back together just like she'd said. He'd been wrong then. He couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it but it was obvious when she'd said she loved him last night she'd just mistaken him for T'Challa, called him by the wrong name, too drunk to know the difference. She didn't love him, she loved her ex! He felt like He'd been punched in the gut but it was more than physical pain. He was hurt and that he'd even left himself open to being hurt made him angry with himself. Okay, he decided, it was better that she wasn't in love with him, she'd be happier if she got back with the Panther and he'd be happy for her. And he should have been happy for her, he wanted to be, but Ororo getting back with T'Challa was the last thing he wanted.

"I'm ready to go dancing now," said Ororo with a smile so full of happiness he knew it had nothing to do with him.

"I'm not," he said as he got up. "In fact, think I'll just go out an' get a drink or somethin'."

Ororo stood up too but wondered why he was changing their plans so abruptly. She didn't feel like going to a bar for drinks. What she wanted was to take him into her arms and take him home and lock him in her room forever so it would just be the two of them forever and ever and no one could ever bother them again. She smiled at the thought.

"Better get your ex ta take ya home," Logan said, misinterpreting the smile, thinking she was glad he was bowing out without a fuss.

"What?"

"Ya might wanna make sure the ass wipe ditches those other babes first though," sneered Logan before walking away.

"What?" Ororo stood there with her mouth open and wondered what had just happened.

Had she been alone she might have smacked herself upside her head and called herself a fool but she just dropped into her chair and sat there looking confused. Somehow she'd just been dumped despite her attempt not to be dumped! She'd dumped T'Challa or rather made sure he knew they were finished because she'd finally realized she had to tell Logan how she felt, no more denying or pretending, no more games, just put her cards on the table and take her chances. But there was no need to worry about that now it was obvious he didn't want anything to do with her.

Things only seemed to get worse when their waiter came by and placed the check on the table asking how everything was. She smiled weakly, nodded and reached for her purse. Apparently Logan had finally decided Dutch was fine with him, in fact he was letting her pay for both their meals.

**-xox-**

Logan remembered too late that he'd left Ororo with the bill but there was some bitter satisfaction in that. Yes he'd pay her back later but let her think he didn't care for now. The only problem with that though, was that he did care. He cared more than he wanted to, more than he'd thought he had, more than he should, more than he could afford to, more than was sensible, responsible, rational, logical – he flat out cared too much for her. He let out a stream of curses as he sat nursing his whiskey in a bar not too far from where he'd left Ororo. Time had slipped away unnoticed but because of his healing factor he couldn't get drunk long enough to make him forget what had just happened. He wanted to be drunk, drunk enough so that he would wander over to the Hudson river in a drunken stupor and fall into it. He was hard to kill but the river would probably do the deed.

That he was even remotely thinking about drowning his sorrows so literally depressed him even more. He hadn't felt so utterly pathetic and hurt in a long, long time. He was never jealous, hardly ever depressed and sure as hell hadn't ever thought about killing himself over a woman even if that woman was Ororo with those beautiful long legs, and that tight ass and – nope, nope, nope nope! No, he wasn't going to think about her in any way shape or form. It was too damn depressing. He finished another shot and started to pour another but found the whiskey bottle empty and the bartender staring at him in disbelief.

"What ya starin' at?" he bellowed as he got off the stool. He wobbled a little and grinned. Not drunk enough to kill himself but drunk enough to kill someone. Drunk enough to fix everything.

He weighed his options. Fixing everything won out over killing T'Challa although killing T'Challa would have fixed a lot too but Logan needed to fix things with Ororo more so he went back home, back home to Ororo.

When she answered the door Ororo was surprised to see Logan grinning at her. He held out a wad of money, said, "I shouldn't have left ya with the bill."

And Ororo actually said, "No you shouldn't have. You do realize I'm thinking about getting back with T'Challa?" and then fought from smacking herself upside her head.

"You ain't with him now," Logan said which she really couldn't deny. "How 'bout we play some cards, Ben said you actually beat him the other night!"

"I was lucky."

"Or Remy taught ya well."

"Or Benjamin let me win."

Logan laughed. "Ya never know with Grimm."

They sat at a small table in her room and played a few games in silence, neither of them concerned about the cards. When she lost every hand he suggested chess. She absently nodded her consent.

"It's good we can't run into T'Challa here, huh?" he asked, eying her carefully.

"I know!" she said with relief.

"Black or white?" he asked, smiling a little.

"Hmm? Oh, I don't care, you choose."

That she was relieved that they couldn't run into T'Challa left him at a lost. It showed too. He lost two games and then was angry with himself for being distracted and for not being able to come out and say what he wanted to say. She noticed he wasn't in the best mood so she pretended to yawn sleepily, called it a night.

"Not yet," he said.

"What?" He'd caught her off guard. She didn't think she'd be strong enough to turn him away again if he wasn't going to cooperate and go away.

"I know you ain't gettin' back with your ex, Ro an you know it too."

"I didn't say it was for certain, Logan I just said I was thinking about it."

"Neither of us is stupid darlin', if you were gonna be with him you'd be with him now but you're here with me now ain't ya?"

Ororo's lips pressed together as she scowled at Logan. Was it truly so hard for the man to tell her he didn't want her to be with anyone else? Couldn't he just say it?

"I really don't appreciate it when ya lie ta me, Ro so why don't ya just tell me what's goin' on?"

"Nothing's going on, Logan except I'm tired. In fact, I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed and you should leave." All she wanted was for him to want her, to be able to admit it but she saw he couldn't even do that and now she realized he never would. She got up, suddenly worn out. She was tired of playing games.

He got up and stepped in front of her, his hands around her waist.

"No," he said.

"Yes," she replied firmly.

He wanted to kiss her, started to but then let her go. He wanted her but he wanted her so much it confused and terrified him. He opened his mouth, started to speak but simply couldn't. It wasn't that he was playing games, he was just afraid of being hurt worse than he was already.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

Logan left her though neither of them wanted him to leave. He wanted his old Ro back without the complications love brought and he wanted to tell her just that only he didn't know how to tell her that without sounding stupid or giving her the wrong idea or making himself sound like some love sick sap. He wished she hadn't changed. If she hadn't he'd be in there right now showing her how much he . . .

"Whoa," he whispered to himself. He'd almost lost himself for a second. He'd almost thought he'd show her just how much he loved her! "Damn," he murmured, pissed with himself. But mostly he was pissed with T'Challa who had started all this.

Maybe the ex-king had won this skirmish but Logan had every intention of winning the war even if he had to go on over to that fancy penthouse and knock any remaining sense out of the man. So he made a few phone calls and, well yeah, he headed over to T'Challa's. If he didn't kick T'Challa's ass he'd at least hang out with his buddies, maybe get another lap dance, maybe even a little something extra since Ororo had made it clear they were finished.

So he and Ben and Johnny and Luke and Luke's friend Danny Rand, also known as Iron Fist, ended up at T'Challa's waiting for their host to let them in. They waited for quite a while. Logan had a feeling T'Challa was in there with Ororo although he didn't smell any trace of her in the hallway but she could've easily flown over and gotten there before him. The more he thought about it the angrier he got so he didn't notice the hallway filling up with smoke as Nick and Ben puffed on their cigars.

"T'Challa ain't seriously thinkin' he's just gonna ignore us!" grumbled Ben when the smoke detector sounded and the sprinkler system came on.

"Maybe we should go," suggested Danny.

"Oh no, man you've gotta stay for this, it'll be fun," Johnny laughed despite the downpour.

"Maybe it oughta be clobberin' time," suggested Ben with a roar of a laugh.

Logan took his friend's suggestion to heart and didn't knock again. Snikt went his claws and after a bit of slicing down went the metal door with a loud boom. All that vaunted Wakandan security for their king and queen came to naught for Wakanda never counted on a Wolverine with adamantium claws on a mission to win back his woman.

"Shoulda used vibranium," muttered Logan with a smirk when the door fell onto the thick ivory carpet which set off another alarm. The guys laughed because this was just plain fun and really, who was going to stop them? Not the shrieking woman who stuck her head out of the neighboring penthouse door, not the security guard who was getting off the elevator, his mouth gaping wide as he saw the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., the back of an X-Man's distinctive head, an Avenger and several of the Fantastic Four striding into the King of Wakanda's now doorless penthouse. And much to the guard's surprise the Thing actually looked back and spoke to him!

"There ain't no fire, flame head ain't got in ta nothin' yet so why don't ya just shut da sprinklers off an' don't worry 'bout da door, Wolverine's payin' fer it," Ben told the guy who couldn't believe the Thing was actually speaking to him.

"Yes sir! Anything you say, Mr. Thing, sir!" the guard said and turned back to the elevator wondering how he was going to explain this to his supervisor because even he couldn't believe it.

Once inside Ben saw T'Challa come running out in his briefs pulling a silk robe on as he came and that great big orange idol of millions let out a guffaw that only added to the ex king's confusion.

"What the hell! Wolverine! My door! My carpet! Who . . . ? Luke . . . ! You guys . . . ! What's going on? What do you think you're doing?" screeched T'Challa.

Even Danny who didn't know why they were wrecking the man's place laughed with the other guys. But Logan wasn't laughing. He found the alarm panel and cut the wires with his claws effectively shutting that vaunted security system down. He thought about calling Ororo and telling her about the lousy Wakandan security she'd trusted in then figured he'd tell her later and after a few good sniffs, headed to the kitchen for some beer.

"We're having a meeting," Nick told T'Challa as he tossed his soaked stub of a cigar into a small trashcan near the door then walked past T'Challa in search of towels.

"A meeting? At this time of the night? Nick did you hear me? What're you doing in my bathroom, man?" shrieked T'Challa.

"It's a new thing, I call it . . . um . . . yeah, MOMS4VEG," explained Nick while he rummaged around in the bathroom.

"Moms for what . . . !"

"MOMS4VEGS. You see I've decided this is going to be our annual Meeting of the Minds for Various Elite Groups," Nick told him, taking his time.

"Elite groups! Elite groups? What elite groups?" cried T'Challa.

"Yeah, MOMS4VEGS!" said Ben with a straight face and nodding as if he liked the sound of it or the idea. "Why ya got me da ever lovin' blue eyed Thing representin' da world's best super team da Fantastic Four. It don't get any eliter than that now does it?"

"Don't forget me two, t-w-o," Johnny chimed in, spelling the word two as he shook the water out of his blond hair.

"You can't try 'n crack a joke then spell it out fer us ta make us get it, Johnny," interjected Ben. "It ain't funny if ya gotta explain it."

"Your jokes are lousy," muttered Johnny.

"Ya got Cage here with the Avengers," Logan said, beer in hand now and nodding in Luke's general direction. "An' me with the X-men. That elite enough fer ya?"

"I guess Iron Fist is representing the Flintstones then?" snorted T'Challa.

"Fred and Barney never had a super hero team, thought you knew that, T'Challa. I'm representing Heroes for Hire of course," offered Danny with a mischievous grin, getting into the spirit of things.

"They aren't even functioning right now!" yelled T'Challa.

"We're always doing something, Misty and me," replied Danny who chuckled and thought Johnny was right, messing with T'Challa was fun.

"Okay, that's it! Logan! We need to talk!"

Nick passed the Panther as he came back into the room and started tossing towels to everyone. Logan caught his as he walked over to the Panther. "You want me to, I can call her for ya, you did want her ta come over, right?" he said nonchalantly as he dried his hair because there wasn't a trace of Ororo's scent anywhere, at least not a recent scent.

"Who?" asked T'Challa. 

"Ororo. That's what you wanted ta talk about right?" Logan replied glibly. "I mean you got your people trailing us every time we go out an' every time I come over here you're always calling her. Why don't I just save ya the trouble an' call her for you?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll call those cheerleaders first then she can come right on over an' see what kind of low life you really are!"

"She already saw me with that girl just like you wanted her to an' we've still been goin' out or didn't you figure that out when you saw us tonight? You ain't made that trip ta Oz yet, huh? Still playing' make believe?"

"Why you . . . !"

Logan snickered and T'Challa lost it. "I'm gonna kill you! Sleeping with my wife – I'll kill you!"

But before T'Challa could throw a punch Logan socked him. T'Challa staggered back trying to keep his balance but he hit the floor anyway. He'd never been hit so hard in his life but then Logan's bones were laced with adamantium and T'Challa had never thrown down with the likes of the Hulk or Ben or Thor or even Colossus for that matter so he had nothing to compare it with. All he knew was that the short, hairy runt had a punch like a sledge hammer.

Logan stood over the ex king. He didn't try to hit him again he just looked down at the man that had thought he could steal Ororo from him and he said, "You got somethin' ta say now? You wanna talk crazy now?"

T'Challa sputtered out a slew of profanity but most of it wasn't legible because he was spitting out blood and teeth.

"Here's the deal, T'Challa, you've already lost Ro, she ain't thinkin' about you. You can keep playin' yer little games all you want but Ororo's _**mine**_. Maybe kickin' yer ass'll help you figure it out but I know Ro a whole lot better 'n you'll ever know her an' I know she wouldn't like it if I embarrassed ya in front of yer friends, though maybe with the way you've been actin' she might not give a damn. But I ain't warnin' you again, bub. You start tryin' ta mess with Ororo's head again an' I won't kick yer ass I'll kill you. See what the Panther god's got ta say about that."

T'Challa opened his mouth then closed it, his tongue running over gaps in his mouth where once teeth had been. He was furious and embarrassed though none of the guys said anything, in fact they were sitting at the table, shirts off, towels wrapped around their necks, playing poker and ignoring the two because it wasn't any of their business and it allowed him to maintain some dignity even though they'd all seen him hit the floor. None of them were surprised about the outcome.

T'Challa sat up, felt his jaw, knew he'd have to spend all day at the dentist tomorrow, thought how Ororo wasn't worth it. He wasn't so terribly surprised that Logan had found him out but he was at a loss as to what to do now. He'd tried to show Ororo what a loser Logan was and she'd shut him down and was still all over the runt and what's more the runt had one hell of a wallop.

"You don't even know her," Logan said and walked away.

T'Challa spat out a good stream of curses and blood, got up and went back into his bedroom then hurried back, his cell phone clutched in one hand, muttering thickly, "Yeah, she'll see how you really are you smug son of a . . ."

"Let's skip the cheerleaders, tonight, T'Challa," warned Nick, "But you can call up Millie and Chili those two models you had over here a few nights ago."

T'Challa stopped and glared at Nick whose hair was standing on end after his careless use of his towel.

"I kinda liked da cheerleaders," grumbled Ben.

"Or are you calling Tony Stark maybe?" questioned Nick.

"Huh? Why would I call _him_?"

"I thought maybe you might want him to represent the Avengers what with him being one of the founding members and all."

"What, I ain't good enough now?" complained Luke.

"You know this isn't funny! It isn't right breaking into a man's place like this! Luke, we're gonna talk later man!" wailed T'Challa, pointing his phone at his former best man.

"It ain't like that T. You ain't like you used ta be either ya know what I'm saying?" Luke said.

"This is the deal, T'Challa," Nick said, "You can join us in some civil conversation, play some cards, have a drink, or I can ask Tony to join us."

"Why can't he call Tony? I like playing with Tony, he's loaded an' he always loses," noted Johnny.

"You ain't heard?" mumbled Ben.

"Heard what?"

"You want me ta tell da kid, T'Challa?"

"We just don't see eye to eye, that's all," explained T'Challa begrudgingly.

"Yeah, I can understand that – all that Civil War stuff," observed Danny. "Seems to me though we've all put that behind us, huh, Luke?"

"Some of us maybe," replied Luke thoughtfully. "I think Tony made a few enemies an' maybe, T'Challa you did too. Why don't we just forget about Tony an' play some poker you know what I'm saying?"

T'Challa knew Luke was right, at least for the moment. What it boiled down to is that he simply preferred to interact with Tony as little as possible because Tony still regarded him as a traitor and T'Challa still felt it was his right to have infiltrated the Avengers to learn their secrets in order to keep the mighty country of Wakanda safe. Tony and he hadn't made up their differences despite the invite to to his wedding and the cordial manner in which they'd interacted since then.

"It's up to you," said Nick.

T'Challa went into the bathroom to clean up and slammed the door shut thinking Logan might have won this little battle but he was damn sure going to lose the war. After a little while he came back out, dressed now, and drew up a seat then made a point of calling the two models Nick had taken a liking to. But there was no way in hell he was going to let Wolverine get away with this.

**-xox-**

After Logan left her Ororo couldn't sleep any more than she could before Logan had come by. She felt as if she'd lost everything, that she'd be miserable forever. She wondered where Logan was. He obviously wasn't harassing T'Challa since her ex hadn't rung her up. She imagined Logan had found someone else to be with tonight. That hurt. It hurt so much she wished she could cut her heart out to relieve her of the pain. Why did being in love have to hurt so much? Why couldn't it be easier? Did you confess all and risk rejection or did you try to play along like everything was okay when it couldn't be okay until you knew if the man you were in love with felt the same way?

She didn't have the nerve to put her cards on the table now. Telling Logan she was contemplating getting back with her ex husband had been a mistake, to tell him she'd been exaggerating, that it had only been a momentarily thought would be an even bigger mistake. She couldn't blame Logan for being fed up with her. She was just as fed up with him. If he cared then he should tell her, fight for her! But then of course that was a two way street. If she cared then she should tell him and fight for him with everything in her power. But always it came back to the fact that she was too afraid of being rejected. What would he think of her? That she was playing games? How to explain her fear? Confessing all meant risking all, taking the chance of losing her teammate, her lover, her best friend. To lose their friendship was unimaginable.

If she kept silent then they could maintain their friendship. There could still be respect, still some affection. Life could go on pretty much as it had before she'd started sleeping with him. It always came back to this. Say nothing, friendship remained intact, speak her mind, reveal her heart and she could end up with her heart destroyed, her life pretty much in shambles. She shook her head as she thought that perhaps she'd done the right thing then, saved them both from being embarrassed, saved their friendship. But how long would she continue to feel so utterly wretched? She sighed heavily and a moment later, as if in response to her thoughts, her cell phone rang. Her stomach wrench and she felt suddenly ill.

"What's he up to now? No, I won't do this," Ororo said out loud as her phone continue to ring.

She wanted to pick up, to yell at T'Challa, to tell him to put the little runt on the line so she could tell him to go to hell but she didn't pick up. She refused to pick up in fact and just let it ring for a while and then she just turned the phone off when he kept calling her back, not accepting voice mail and she curled up and tried to go to sleep. Sleep still wouldn't come though. She couldn't stop thinking about Logan. She saw him with that blond cheerleader dancing in front of him, around him, on top of him. She sat up, pressed her fingers to her temples and tried to clear her head. She was going to kill T'Challa. She was positive that would solve all her problems.

**-xox-**

"Hey, Ororo. Uh . . . looking kind of funky there," mumbled T'Challa with some alarm when Ororo landed on his terrace.

No, Ororo didn't look her best. She'd just flown from the school to New York City in record time and no, she hadn't stopped to tend to her hair. And yes, there was a cheerleader dancing all over Logan. Thunder grumbled warningly and as the sky flashed with lightning Ororo shoved past her ex whom she could barely understand and marched into the penthouse. She shoved past one of the women Nick was fond of and knocked some frightened cheerleader's drink out of her hand accidentally without even noticing. Thunder boomed just as she stopped next to Logan.

Everyone looked at her, Nick and Ben and Luke Cage and three other vaguely familiar men, one blonde, one auburn, and one dark haired man with a mustache – Tony Stark? Why had T'Challa invited Tony she briefly wondered but she didn't really care why he was there or who the others were at the moment.

"We're leaving," she told Logan.

"Huh?"

"You heard me," she said, voice almost like thunder.

"You aren't going to let her tell you what to do are you, Wolverine?" laughed T'Challa, his smile full of dark gaps.

"I said, we're leaving!" Ororo said firmly, her eyes flashing white.

"Damn," muttered Logan but he stood up.

The girl on his lap fell down and Logan had to step over her nimbly when Ororo yanked him by the arm sending sparks of static electricity crackling. Everyone just stared at them with their mouths hanging open as she marched him out onto the terrace.

"Now that's one helluva woman!" said Ben, pretty much the only one who wasn't speechless.

"Damn!" muttered Luke.

"Reminds me a little of Misty," murmured Danny wistfully and duly impressed.

"Stormy, you can bring dis Cajun home any time you want to chère!" one of the men Ororo thought she should know but hadn't paid any attention to hollered after her.

Johnny, coming through the hole in the penthouse door carrying large bags of fast food stopped and whistled admirably as he caught the last act of Ororo's exit. Yes she was still in her short nightgown and yes it was pretty flimsy. She hadn't noticed, hadn't cared. She wrapped her arms around Logan and flew them home.

"Okay, that was tiring," she said once she'd set them down in front of the school. It was raining lightly and she was too tired to try to stop it.

"What was that all about?" he asked, looking at her now soaked nightie with thoughts of finally spending the night with her again.

She took a deep breath. "I love you, Logan, that's what. I love you and I don't want you hanging out with women like that. I want us to be together. I can take it if you don't want what I want I just need to know how you feel that's all."

She waited. He waited. She began to panic. He felt not quite sick but something close to it.

"Don't you have anything to say?" she demanded.

"Well yeah," he admitted and grinned a little self consciously.

"So, say it already!"

"Well, maybe we should go in first."

"Why? So the owls can't hear you?"

"Maybe you need ta go in an' change outta those wet clothes first, it's kinda distractin'."

"I don't need to change! Logan, either it's yes or no, which is it?"

A tinge of defeat was in her voice. He felt bad, really bad. He took her into his arms. She was barefoot so not towering over him as much as when she wore those heels he loved. He held onto her for a long time just wanting the moment to last.

She started to cry but forced the tears back. Damn him, she thought but she didn't want the moment to end either.

"So, all this stuff with T'Challa was fer what?" he asked.

She backed away from him. "What do you mean?'

"You were trying ta get me jealous weren't you?"

"What?"

"All your clothes stunk of the man, Ro, yer room stunk of him an' then dude keeps poppin' up everywhere we go! I know what he was up to but I didn't think you'd do somethin' like that."

"Are you serious? I don't even know how you could think I got you to ask me out, planned our dates and then called him up without you seeing me and . . . dammit, Logan! I don't want to be with him – he's not here now is he?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

"I'm not in love with T'Challa, Logan! Okay, yes I did think about getting back with him for a minute but I didn't think you wanted me – I thought you were trying to get rid of me!"

"Get rid of you? Why would I wanna get rid of you, darlin'?"

She waited a beat hoping he would tell her why he wouldn't want to get rid of her but when he didn't she just sighed.

He looked at her uncertainly.

She sat down onto the school steps and covered her face with her hands then wiped the rain from her face and looked up at him. "Let's just call it a night, let's just stay friends and be happy with that. I'm fine with that."

"Ya sure?"

She shot up, angry at his question, angry with his whole attitude. "I'm very sure, Logan," she snarled. "And you know something? The more I think about it I know who's fault this is! Emma and her advice – Emma! Oh no! I know what she did! Emma! Oh you . . . !"

"What?"

"She asked me what type of cologne T'Challa wore and I thought she was crazier than usual but she must have found out and sprayed all my clothes with his brand of cologne which would explain why everything smelled like him! Damn her!"

"That don't make sense."

"Well, Logan how often does that woman really make sense?"

He had to give her that.

"Well, I knew something was up, didn't think it was you but couldn't figure it out."

"You could've asked."

"Let's go up ta my room," he said, his voice low and husky now that he saw all obstacles were out of the way and he'd finally be able to make love to her again.

"No . . . no, that's over," she said reaching far and wide for some tiny bit of elusive hope that Emma was right about this.

"You serious?"

"Yes."

"So, no sex tonight?"

"No."

"Then ya mean we can have sex?"

"No!"

"Maybe tomorrow?"

"No!"

"Yer serious, Ro?"

"Yes."

"Yes sex?"

"No sex, Logan."

"Damn."

"That's just how it has to be, I've fallen too deep." she said and not because of Emma's advice whether stupid or sensible, but because it was the simple truth. If she continued sleeping with him she knew she would never stop and when he was finished with her and moved on to his next woman her heart would be shattered into so many devastated pieces she'd never be able to recover.

He said nothing. She sighed as she envisioned him back at T'Challa's with cheerleaders dancing all over him. She wanted to give in, to concede, to keep her man with her through the night, she wanted the games to be over. But she wanted him to want her and not just the sex, she needed him to want all of her, whether barefoot with wild hair or in sexy outfits with shoes to die for and she wanted her friend back.

"Damn," he sighed but he caught both her hands in his. Ororo felt her stomach sink, unsure if this was the moment he would let her down easy or if he'd try to talk his way out of anything resembling a commitment.

"It ain't like I can't go without sex, darlin' but you shouldn't've gotten me all worked up like this fer so long. Ya got me wantin' ya all the time now."

"I guess I was just so glad to be with you again after that colossal mistake I made with . . . well, I probably should have taken some time to be by myself for a while first."

"Well . . . you think you need some time alone now?"

"No. I don't. That's my whole problem." She shrugged. "I love you and I don't know how to stop."

He smiled. "I like the sound of that, darlin' and if that's how you feel I can accept that though I ain't gonna lie, I'm gonna miss our nights."

"Really, Logan? And you're not going to want some cheerleader instead?"

He laughed a little. "Nah, I just kept thinking about you when she was dancin', no fun in that."

"Thinking about me?"

"Being with another woman when I really wanna be with you don't cut it."

"You're serious?"

He kissed her lightly. "Love makes you do crazy things, T'Challa's proof of that. I was gonna go over ta his place an' break a few bones, teach him a lesson. You see how his face swelled up? He won't be going out in public any time soon tryin' ta bug us." He laughed at the memory then became serious again. "You know he still wants you."

"That's too bad for him. I told him tonight that we weren't getting back together."

"That's good for me then."

"Good for us."

"As long as we're on the same page."

"I think we are now."

He smiled wide and said, "So that's that."

"No!" she exclaimed, "No, it's not! You said love makes you do crazy things! What did you . . . ?"

"Come here," he breathed, pulling her close. "You oughta know by now how much I love you, 'Roro" he whispered and then she couldn't help but cry.

.


	4. Commencements

**The Games We Play – by Darlin**

**A/N** – First I have to apologize for taking so long to get this out. Unfortunately during the past month I had inspiration for two stories that I just couldn't _not_ write. One is an original story and the other is a prelude for a RoLo fairy tale that I wrote some years ago for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and like the fairy tale it's finished but needs major tweaking. Inspiration is fickle, it may wax mighty one day and wane desperately the next so when it comes I find it hard to not stop what I'm working on and do what seems to call to me as wanky as that may sound. I'm sorry I just can't help it.

That said, I also reworked chapter three so it flows a little better and got that up several weeks ago. I had a hard time making it work the way I wanted it to and the same for chapter four which grew from just a few pages to 20 pages, far too lumbering, so I kept tweaking it and tweaking it but unfortunately it actually grew longer. I then redid the last half but it still ended up being 21 pages, still a bit lumbering and I probably should've edited a lot more but I just enjoy the poker playing buddies so I couldn't. I do think it works, lumbering as it may be. I'm just at the point where I need to move on because all I keep doing is adding more and more! Lesson learned (and a hard lesson it was too because I've felt so guilty for not getting this up sooner), never say I'll have a chapter up unless it's actually tweaked, proofed and I'm posting it the same time I'm saying it'll be up.

**Chapter Four – Commencements**

**-xox-**

It was still raining softly when Ororo woke up. It was early, the sun not even up yet but she felt so well rested she purred like a contented kitten. She felt deliciously and deliriously happy as she peered at the man in her bed. She was laying beside him, her arm over his chest. She purred again and ran her fingers over his chest delighting in the feel of the firm muscles, the soft hair. This was bliss she thought and smiled dreamily just basking in the joy of having the man she loved with her when she woke up. Sleeping in his arms last night, waking up to him this morning, it gave her a feeling of utmost peace. That peace however was suddenly shattered when she heard a very unwelcome shout in her head.

"Ororo, is Logan with you?" questioned Emma through her mutant psychic power.

Ororo didn't bother to reply. She simply forced all her barriers up and blocked the White Queen from her mind and tried to calm her rising anger at the intrusion. She took a deep breath before sitting up carefully so she didn't disturb Logan and poured herself a glass of water from the carafe on the nightstand, took a few sips, then popped a mint from a tiny tin into her mouth. She laughed when she saw Logan was awake and watching her. He looked as if he belonged there in her bed morning noon and night and every hour in between, grinning that sexy wolfish grin she'd fallen in love with so many years ago. It still took her breath away.

"It's good ta wake up with ya, darlin'," he said.

"I've missed having you here," she admitted.

"You mean that?" he said as he sat up and reached for her.

"I've missed you yes, but . . ."

He moaned as she came into his arms without resisting him like he'd expected her to. His kiss was fierce and demanding and she sunk into his embrace, into the melting kiss, as if she knew no other way to be. She wanted him as much as she knew he wanted her. She simply had no will power when it came to this man. That they'd merely slept together last night now seemed utterly implausible. But now, just like last night, it was Logan who backed off. He loosened his hold on her, bowed his head so their foreheads touched and let out a deep ragged breath. Summoning up as much control as he could his hands cupped her face and he touched his lips to hers so softly she automatically leaned into him wanting more but then he let her go and sat back.

"I ain't made of the same stuff as you, darlin', I wanna make love to ya – yeah, I know ya don't gotta say it, I know ya don't wanna go there. But since I ain't got the willpower ta keep this up fer long I better be gettin' outta here otherwise you'll be throwing me out fer good an' I wanna come back."

Despite the thrill that rushed through her when he said he wanted to come back and be with her, Ororo bit her lip and wished the stuff that he was talking about was working for her now because it wasn't. She wanted him and she meant to have him. If only just once and then she'd go back to her resolution.

"Stay," she said.

He didn't try to fight his desire for her this time but leaned in and kissed those full lips of hers, reveling in her taste, her touch, the thrill of being with the woman he'd finally admitted to being in love with. It was a long sweet kiss but like Ororo earlier the moment was shattered when Emma called out to him.

"Damn," he hissed.

"What's wrong?"

"Emma's in my head – or was," he muttered after forcing her out.

"She tried contacting me too. Something must be going on, she's never up before eight."

"Well, since I can't stay I'll go see what she wants," he said then kissed her before getting out of bed.

Ororo knew he was right, it really was best if he left now she just didn't want him to go besides she still had something she needed to discuss with him. Yes, he loved her and wanted her with or without sex but she had no idea how much he wanted her or where they would go from here. What was love and desire without commitment and how much would he be willing to commit? And how did you ask the man you were in love with any of those things especially when that man was Logan who had only committed to two women that she knew of, both of them dead?

"You know we could've been doing this all last week if you'd just come out an' said somethin'," he said as he pulled his pants on. "Why didn't you just tell me ya loved me, darlin? It would've saved us a whole lot of grief."

"Why didn't you just tell me you loved _me_? Wouldn't that have saved us all this grief too?" retorted Ororo.

"Well, I . . . well . . . it ain't the easiest thing ta tell someone – I mean, it ain't like being with me's a walk in the park. The last woman I was with had ta – well, it wasn't a walk in the park."

"Oh. Well, I did consider that. Only I know what a hard life you have, Logan because we share that life. It's hard for all of us. It's unpredictable, scarey, dangerous. We've fought the craziest of bad guys from aliens to mythological gods! We've died and been reborn together, it really doesn't get much worse than that. And if you're worried about Sabretooth or any other villain popping out of the woodwork ,determined to wreak vengeance on you, I do have some powers."

"Some powers," he laughed. "Well, darlin' you can hold your own I'll give ya that. But the thing is I wouldn't want anything ta happen to you, Ro. I wouldn't want ta risk anyone tryin' ta get to me through you."

"Well, that's a two way street. I have my own enemies, the the Shadow King for one. Besides you taught me how to fight and though I'm not on your level I'm not that bad. Maybe one day I won't be good enough but we live day by day not knowing if each day will be our last. We simply accept the risk because helping people, saving the world matters to us. You have to know I don't care about any of the what if's or the dire consequences of being with you, the possibilities of fates worse than death. I've always felt we were in this together whether you loved me or not and I believed – I still _believe_ you feel the same so that couldn't have been the only reason you didn't want to tell me you loved me."

"Well, no it wasn't," he acknowledged.

"So then . . . ?"

He started to speak then bit his lower lip and exhaled deeply. His reasons were hard to put into words which was a major reason why he hadn't said anything in the first place.

"Logan?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell ya just give me a second," he said and he sat down on the bed beside her.

Her impatience ebbed a little and she put a hand on his thigh to encourage him. His hand immediately covered hers, his fingers entwining with hers.

"You see this?" he said as he lifted their joined hands. "This is everything I didn't want to lose, Ro. This is what we have, it's who we are." He said this as if it explained everything and to him it did.

"I – I don't know what you mean."

His lips twisted in uncertainty. To him her gesture, reaching out impetuously to comfort, to reassure him, matched his need to hold on to her, to reassure her in turn, as if they were somehow connected. He'd cared for his last girlfriend but there had never been this type of connection between them. He'd known Ororo for years, almost knew her inside and out just as she knew him. When she was off or acting out of character like she had been the past few days _he_ was off. How did you explain that?

Even the mere holding of hands was something he seldom did. But with Ororo he felt at ease, almost taking for granted the comfort they shared in each other, their respect, their completeness in each other. He'd thought he'd lost that when he'd left her in Africa and then found out she was getting married. He would never forget how he'd felt when he'd heard the news. Disbelief, shock, emptiness, pain. Such intense pain, as if a giant hand had hold of his stomach and was squeezing as hard as it could, where all he could do was throw up or hit something to make it stop. But he'd ignored it, pretended to be happy for her, had denied any self analysis determined not to figure out why her getting married hurt so much. He'd told himself she was a good friend and he would miss her and he convinced himself that all he wanted was the best for her which wasn't him. What they'd had had been easy going and fun, he cared for her, always would but he'd never be what her future husband would be to her, could never beat first love, would never be the marrying type. And though it hurt to go along with what he thought was best for her he had done it just like he'd been ready to do again this time. Only this time he had a feeling that wasn't really what she wanted and this time he knew how much she meant to him and it had been too hard to sit back and let her make the same mistake. It had been too hard to think about losing her a second time and so though he'd wanted her to be happy he couldn't let her go back to T'Challa, not without a fight.

Now he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. That he'd finally admitted his love to her and to himself was a mixed blessing. It was a huge relief but also totally overwhelming because the depth of the love he felt for her was so enormous that it scared him. How did you tell someone something like that without scaring them in turn?

"Okay," he said then cleared his throat before continuing, "I just didn't wanna lose what we have. I didn't wanna lose you again. I didn't know how you'd feel if you knew besides I didn't even wanna think about how much I loved you. It's . . . it's . . ."

"Terrifying," she said, squeezing his hand and nodding understandingly.

He chuckled. "Yeah. See? You really know me. And maybe that's what I love about you the most."

"What else do you love about me?" she asked half teasingly half intrigued.

"There're so many things, Ro," he said truthfully. "Sometimes just seein' ya comin' down the stairs all sexy an' beautiful, that scares the hell outta me. Seein' you like that, knowing I'd kill anyone who tried ta hurt ya." He shook his head but went on, "You just know me, Ro. You put up with me, we're good together whether it's in the field out on assignment or in bed or out at those fancy places you like ta go sometimes. What I guess I mean is that there's no one I trust more 'n you. You're my best friend an' I always wanna keep that. Besides you're hot, great in bed, you're beautiful, strong, smart, independent, ya cook great, we have fun together – you're damn near perfect,"he ended with his wolfish grin.

"Oh, my darling, darling Logan! I cannot believe how foolish we were! But I think that no matter what happens we're always going to be friends, even when you grow tired of me."

Logan shook his head. "That ain't never gonna happen, darlin'."

"I fully expect it not to, is that clear?"

"You bet," he said, pulling her closer. He kissed her tenderly having no more words to express how much she meant to him. She murmured her pleasure. He grinned and remembering last night said, "I like it when you're in take charge, storm the fortress mode, darlin'."

"Well, a woman's got to do what a woman's got to do to get her man!" she laughed.

"Shoulda done it sooner, sweetheart," he murmured before he kissed her again.

He was pushing her down onto the bed when another shout inside his skull made him jerk upright.

"Ow!" Ororo moaned as Emma shouted in her head as well.

"Damn!" Logan hissed.

"Emma's annoying you too I take it."

"Can't be all that important otherwise she would've just said what was up," he said absently as he used everything the Professor had taught him to block her telepathic nagging then he went back to kissing Ororo, Emma and everything else but the woman he loved forgotten.

Logan was right, it wasn't all that important. Emma was more annoyed than anything. For one thing it was six in the morning and she was awake. Secondly there was an annoying buzz in her head that had brought her out of a really satisfying dream where she and Scott were no longer X-Men but living in a luxurious mansion in the Bahamas fully stocked with maids, crates of Dom Pérignon, a handsome butler at hr beck and call and a shiny yellow and black sports car Scott liked to call Bumblebee and none of them had a care in the world. Thirdly, she disliked that her near perfect dream had been marred by a shiny yellow and black sports car Scott liked to call Bumblebee and that she hadn't been able to dispose of it and replace it with a nice shiny silver Maserati before she woke up. And fourthly when she'd gotten up and gone to investigate this curious buzz which she'd quickly discovered the cause of once fully awake, she knew Scott wasn't going to like what it was especially when it was Logan who had started all of this. Now if it had been a shiny yellow and black sports car that liked to call itself Bumblebee sitting in the kitchen helping himself to coffee she knew Scott would be the happiest kid on the block and she could have gone back to sleep but unfortunately what was in the kitchen was anything but that shiny yellow and black sports car that liked to call itself Bumblebee.

Emma sighed as a man dressed in a red and blue costume, face covered, well every part of him covered, poured coffee for her which should have made her feel better because she couldn't possibly be up at six in the morning without her coffee but it didn't actually make her feel better because, well it was Spider-man and she didn't even want to know why Spider-man was in their kitchen pouring coffee for her or why Luke Cage and Nick Fury and Johnny Storm and the Thing and Dr. Strange and stranger still, T'Challa, were all in the X-Men's once spotless kitchen at six in the morning. So of course she was screaming for Ororo and Logan to get down there and make some sense of this. However, they were so into their love fest they'd blocked her rather effectively.

"I certainly am not cleaning the muddy muss you've made of these floors," Emma told the uninvited guest.

"We did track in a lot of mud but that makes us even I'd say," T'Challa said and he flashed a wide grin showing off his perfect smile of pearly whites thanks to Johnny who had remembered his brother-in-law Reed Richards had a new invention for fast and easy implants. Reed had found that many super heroes often needed emergency dental work and had come up with an experimental alloy that instantly molded itself upon application faster and better than any dentist possibly could.

"I won't even pretend to understand what you mean by that or read your mind to understand what you mean by that. It's far too early in the morning for games, highness," declared Emma.

"Do you know where Logan is, Miss Frost?" Dr. Strange asked.

"Most likely making love to his lady love, her ex-highness," Emma said with a pointed look at the Panther.

T'Challa opened his mouth then closed it, the exact effect Emma had hoped for without having to actually tell him to shut up although it definitely wasn't too early to be snide or rude. No, being woken at six a.m. was cause enough to be snide and rude. She stifled a yawn and weighed her options. It was unlikely she could go back to sleep and far too early to bother waking Scott who would be exceedingly ill tempered when he discovered the motley gang of superheroes in the muddied kitchen.

"Well, I'm up, have coffee, might as well increase the coffers," decided Emma and she sat down with every intent of joining with the motley gang of superheroes.

"Don't ya like, uh, kinda wanna put somethin' else on maybe, ya know, like cover up with a robe or somethin'?" asked Ben.

Emma looked down at her skimpy negligee, studied it briefly then looked at Ben. "And why would I want to change?" she asked curiously.

"I just . . . ya know . . . I . . . uh . . . umm . . . da guys . . . ya know . . . we, uh . . ." For once the ever garrulous Thing was speechless.

Spider-man wasn't however because unlike Ben he had a comment for everything no matter what , funny or not, and he said, "Your erotic outfit won't distract me – much – but you know I wouldn't have worn my pj's if I'd known what the dress code was."

"Really, Spider-man? I thought you might have worked on that wit of yours since the last time I saw you but I see you still have neither humor nor intelligence. What's the game here boys because I can play with the best of them?"

"So . . . then . . . you . . . aren't stripping to fill your coffers and you really think you stand a chance in beating all of us? " queried Peter Parker who held out his hands in a gesture of confusion.

Nick coughed.

Luke looked anywhere but at Emma.

"Hey if you wanna play with us all dressed like that then I say we just play strip poker," suggested Johnny.

"How droll but since I've no intention of losing what would I have to gain by playing strip poker with _you_, Johnny Storm?" sneered Emma and she gave him one of her best apathetic looks.

"What? Women love my body! It'd be a treat for you!"

"You do realize you're implying that you would lose," Spider-man said to Johnny and then to Emma, "But that's fine with me, sit or strip it'll be entertaining either way."

Emma laughed and looked around at the others then said, "Luke would be a treat, yes – delicious; T'Challa uber delicious since Ororo her ex-highness would be so jealous; Nick's a little elderly but still fit so therefore qualifies as a treat. Now Ben on the other hand is always running around half naked anyway so there's no mystery, buff as you are. And Dr. Strange . . . hmm," she paused then shook her head resolutely and said, "It's too iffy. You wear so many clothes it's hard to tell if you're buff or not . . ."

"I'm in great shape!" squawked the offended sorcerer supreme who was dressed in his usual sorcerer supreme outfit, his cape slung over the back of his chair.

"So _you_ say. Now, Johnny you're hot, you know you're hot – no pun intended mind you – but you're not all that hot because you know you're hot, your ego's far too big, therefore seeing you naked would _not_ be a treat because _you_ think it's such a treat," she said with a slow shake of her head for emphasis.

The men stared at Emma, their mouths widening with each apt appraisal.

"Um . . . you didn't say anything about me, Miss Frost. I'm buff so aren't I a treat too?" Spidey asked.

"There's a reason I left you out Spider-man. If you'd keep your mouth shut and let me see your face then you could possibly be a treat and to get that mask off of you I'm a little tempted to play a few rounds of strip poker with you – not _you_ Johnny – but since I am unfortunately quite familiar with your need to babble endlessly I rather think it's highly unlikely that you can keep your mouth shut for more than a few seconds."

"I think I would resent that if it weren't so true," replied the Friendly Neighborhood arachnid.

She smiled and said, "I can beat the pants off of you if you like, darling but all I want is your money so let's everyone shut up and let's play cards."

"Damn, you're a telepath! She's a telepath! Of course ya ain't gonna lose!" cried Luke with sudden realization.

But Emma immediately turned into diamond form, smiled brightly, and reached for the cards saying, "Rest assured gentlemen, and I use that term judiciously, thankfully I can no longer read anyone's dirty minds."

"But now you've taken half of the fun out of beating you," teased Dr. Strange.

"Seriously, Doctor Strange? Because Logan came home some months ago with quite a few doodads that he said he won off of you in a poker game."

"He was just lucky," huffed Stephen Strange a little uncomfortably but he rebounded with aplomb. "And I mean to win them back! Where is he? Ben, you said Logan would be here!"

"Don't look at me. Emma was supposed ta be da one gettin' him with her mind tricks. Ask her where he is why don't ya," grumbled Ben.

"How do we know you can't read minds in that form?" Luke asked.

"She can't," said Nick whom they all knew everything about everything.

"That doesn't make me feel any better," muttered Johnny, "I liked it better when you had real flesh and blood boobs."

"Sure would've been a better show," Spider-man said.

"Guys, guys! It merely means _our_ coffers are going to be quite a lot larger since there's no more distraction!" exclaimed T'Challa.

"I still think ya oughta put some clothes on," objected Ben.

"Now _you_ truly are a gentleman, darling and I am truly touched."

"So are ya gonna put on some clothes then?"

Emma smiled and shook her head no.

"Are you going to get Logan or not?" inquired Dr. Strange rather grumpily.

"I'd have to change back so why not forget Logan for the moment, nasty temper when he's disturbed you know, and how about I win a few doodads from you for my _own_ collection, hmm? Flop poker, five card stud, draw, straight, Texas hold 'em, what's your poison boys?" said Emma with a wicked grin.

**-xox-**

Sometime later when alarm clocks were crowing and children were stirring Scott wandered into the kitchen wearing his tattered old flannel robe which Emma despised and had tried to dispose of more than once and the superbly comfortable leather house slippers she'd purchased for him for his birthday. He covered his mouth as he yawned then stopped in the doorway and looked around the room, his hand falling from his gaping mouth. He blinked a few times, shook his head thinking he was still asleep, still dreaming and turned around and started back to his room. But then he stopped, stood absolutely still and listened to the unnatural silence as everyone sitting at the kitchen table watched him.

"Darling, don't leave – I'm winning! Three aces beat three kings!" cooed Emma as she threw down her cards and gathered up her winnings.

Scott turned around, looked at the group of superheroes sitting in his kitchen with his paramour and then screamed – "Wolverine! Storm! I'm going to kill them!"

"Don't upset yourself, darling, I'll get them," offered Emma as she switched from diamond to flesh and stood up clutching her money.

"Emma!" cried Scott as he took in her barely there outfit, the exact same barely there outfit he'd been so enamored of the night before but was now horrified to see her wearing.

"Just a moment, darling they're a little . . . preoccupied. I should have their attention in . . . just . . . a . . . second. Uh. Ah, there . . . "

"Er . . . maybe we oughta be goin' now, you feel me," recommended Luke sensibly.

"I think you're right, Cage," agreed Nick.

"What the hell is this? What's going on? What are all of you people doing here? " demanded Scott.

"It's our annual MOMS4 . . ." Johnny started to say but Nick kicked him under the table and shook his head warningly.

"Moms for what?" Scott asked, even more confused.

"It's an annual meeting of elite super hero groups made up by Nick here," said T'Challa. "We just changed the location from my place to here since Logan had to leave so suddenly so you can blame all of this on your little teammate."

"Emma, get Wolverine down here now!"

"It's just a little friendly game of poker, settle down, _homme_, " advised Remy who had just padded barefoot into the kitchen wearing a purple silk robe and matching pajamas. He stood their wiggling his toes and rubbing his head making his already sleep tousled hair look even wilder.

"Gambit! I should've known you were involved in this!" accused Scott.

"But I jus' got outta bed!"

"What's wrong with all of you? This is a school! This isn't a casino!" raged Scott. "This is a school with kids here – children . . . !"

"Very impressionable children," interjected Emma.

"Very impressionable children!" hollered Scott. "And they – what are they going to think if they see all of you supposedly upstanding heroes playing poker and smoking and drinking and – and put those cigars out now!"

"Impressionable? And his girlfriend goes around dressed like that?" quipped Spider-man.

"Don't worry about da smoke, we turned off da smoke alarm," Ben reassured him though he sunk his stub of cigar into one of the empty bottles of beer that littered the table.

"Turned off the smoke alarm? In a school?" roared Scott, his face almost as red as his ruby quartz eye glasses.

"It's jus' de kitchen, nobody cookin', dey jus' drinkin' coffee. What's de harm?" said Gambit as he poured himself a cup of joe. "You could use some, Cyke. Want dis?"

"You keep out of this, Gambit!" snapped Scott.

"Maybe the children should be kept out of the kitchen, darling," suggested Emma.

"Well now, I think we really should be leaving," Nick said as he snubbed out his own cigar and stood up.

"Not before you write me that check or hand over a credit card, Nicholas Fury," warned Emma as she held out her hand expectantly.

"Uh . . . yeah." He pulled his wallet from his back pants pocket then sat back down.

"This isn't a joke people! Emma, get your money and then everyone get out and, Emma find out what's taking Logan and Ororo so long!" ordered Scott.

Upstairs Logan and Ororo were no more amused than Scott was. They'd been so completely lost in each other that they'd slowly let their mental defenses down so that Emma's insistent psychic calls kept interrupting them.

"Okay, Emma," Ororo told the White Queen through their telepathic link, "You were wrong! You were so wrong, so completely wrong, so utterly wrong I don't know how to explain how wrong you were. Now can you please just leave us alone!"

Emma was having none of that however and she said, "I was not wrong, Ororo Munroe! And well you'll find out if you give in! Do not have sex with that man!"

Ororo broke away from Logan who reached for her again murmuring what he was going to do to her.

"That's enough! Can't you hear Scott screaming his head off?" screamed Emma's inside both their heads this time.

"Whaddaya yappin' about now?" growled Logan out loud.

"I said get down here now and fix this mess you've gotten us into, Logan!" shouted Emma.

"What do you think is going on?" Ororo wondered aloud as they made their way downstairs but neither could guess what mess they'd actually gotten the X-Men involved in. They just never expected T'Challa had brought the fight to them so when they entered the kitchen one couldn't blame them for staring dumbstruck with mouths agape.

"What the . . . ?"

"Ah, ah, ah! Watch your language, Logan, this is a school with very impressionable children after all," warned Spider-man who was making a new pot of coffee.

"What's everyone doin' here?" Logan asked as he looked around the room at the various super heroes milling about. Ororo couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, don't da two of ya look well rested," noted Ben with a wide grin.

"Thank you, Benjamin," said Ororo, "we slept quite well last night."

"I bet you did," enthused Johnny.

"This was Gambit's and T'Challa's idea, Logan, they wouldn't listen to me,"explained Nick who, having paid up, was at the door about to leave.

"I thought we were all in dis t'gether,_ mes amis_," claimed Remy.

"The hairy little troll asked for it," snarled T'Challa.

"Who let _you_ in? You want another round, that why you're here, bub?"

"I do at that, Logan. You owe me. I've come to collect what you won off me last time," Dr. Strange said as he helped himself to a danish from a large platter of pastries and muffins Emma was setting on the table.

"Oooo, blueberry muffins are my favorite!" exclaimed Spider-man who raised his mask uncovering his mouth so he could eat his favorite muffin.

Logan frowned. He'd given most of the things he'd won off of Dr. Strange to his ex-girlfriend Melita which she'd used when he was making his escape from hell which sounded crazy but then again everything about his life sounded crazy, which had been the biggest reason for not wanting Ororo mixed up with him. He briefly wondered what she would've done if they'd been together then but quickly realized she wouldn't have needed those doodads.

"Don't have 'em, but what I really coulda used was a get outta hell free card – ya got any of those on you then I'm in," Logan said with a wry grin.

"Get out of hell free card – what we could do with something like that!" considered Emma.

"Or a get out of Limbo free card, that would be cool," said Kitty as she came into the kitchen already dressed for the day.

"Kitty, maybe you should go . . . ."

"_She_, Scott darling, is _not_ one of the impressionable children, she's not even a child any more. Do let her stay," Emma said before Scott could shoo Kitty away.

"Uh . . . thanks for that . . . I guess," mumbled Kitty as she looked over the pastries. "Don't we have any bagels today? What's going on? Wasn't that Nick Fury who just left?"

"I think Nicholas knows when to make a tactical retreat," explained Ororo who walked over to the alarm panel by the kitchen door and entered the code to open the automatic gate for Fury.

"Retreat? From what?"

"It's nothin', jus' a few guys tryin' ta win back what dey lost, Kitty, dat's all," chuckled Remy.

"From you?" Kitty laughed. "They actually played cards with you?" She laughed again. "Whose idea was that?"

Everyone immediately looked at Logan including Ororo.

"You let Logan set you up!" Kitty exploded with laughed.

"It wasn't exactly like we was settin' da _guys_ up," offered Ben. "Ya see it was like this, Tony Stark was a . . . well, what ya would call an unexpected guest an' he's loaded _an'_ he sucks at poker so why not?"

"He sucks at everything," commented T'Challa sourly.

"I knew this whole thing was a set up!" Johnny said defensively.

"An' yet if we'd played strip poker like you'd wanted to you'd be sitting here butt naked," remarked Spider-man.

"Ah shut up, Spidey, you'd be just as naked as me," muttered Johnny.

"And here I thought you were a gentleman – not you T'Challa or you Spider-man but you Ben! Trying to take advantage of a hapless millionaire! I am absolutely shocked at your roguish behavior," purred Emma.

"Har har har. Tony's been playin' with us long enough ta know he ain't gonna win. No one forced him ta come an' play any more 'n we forced you ta come 'n play with us in yer nightie!"

"Okay, that's enough! Everyone get out now!" commanded Scott.

"Coffee's ready, anyone for another cup?" offered Spider-man.

"I'm afraid I am not leaving until I have a chance to retrieve my lost goods – surely you must have some of them – at least my . . ."

"Nope, got nothin' left," Logan said.

"Figures he would pawn them," laughed T'Challa.

"It's unlikely he pawned them although what you did with them I . . . well it's over and done with, regrettably, which means I will indeed depart now, Cyclops. Good day everyone," Stephen Strange said as he got up, snatched another pastry then strode to the door which Kitty hurried to open for him.

"I'll open the gate," she called after him.

"Don't blame this on Logan, Cyke. It really was da Panther's idea we come here," ratted Ben.

"Well, It was Gambit who let us in!" cried T'Challa.

"Everything is always your fault, Remy," Ororo told her friend with a grin.

"You would say dat, Stormy," complained Remy playfully.

"Apparently it's _your_ fault and it's _your_ fault," thundered Scott who pointed his finger at Remy and then Logan. "And we need to have a serious discussion about protocol!"

"Is dis gonna be another meetin' den?" Remy asked, "'Cause I went ta one yesterday remember? An' de day before dat an' I ain't in de mood for another one today. Why can't we just have _weekly_ meetin's like de Thieves Guild used ta have?"

"The Thieves Guild didn't have weekly – Remy, were you at T'Challa's last night when I . . . ?" Ororo caught herself and had to laugh as she remembered how she thought she'd recognized some of the guys there but she'd been so determined to drag Logan out of there that she hadn't paid much attention to the others.

"You a little late _chère_, but yeah, dat be Remy in de flesh. You go get yo man, girl!" the Cajun teased and then gallantly offered her the good doctor's vacated seat but when she declined with a shake of her head he sat down with his coffee and started in on a croissant.

Scott groaned.

"Don't get yourself all worked up, Cyclops, we're booking. Ororo, always good ta see ya especially when you're looking so damn fine," noted Luke as he got up and just as the good doctor had done snatched a few treats to go.

Ororo's neat hair, jeans and t-shirt were certainly a big change from last nights messy hair and her rather revealing nightgown and she laughed again and said, "Thank you, Luke. You'll have to tell Jessica I said hello and that cute little Danielle."

"Yeah, just if you see her don't tell her your girl here whupped me, you know what I mean?"

"Emma beat you?" Logan and Ororo exclaimed together.

"Why look so shocked? I've skills in abundance," retorted Emma.

"Oh yeah yah! Way ta go Em though you did have a good teacher if I say so myself," laughed Remy proudly since he'd been her teacher.

"Did you cheat?" Kitty asked as she settled on a counter top and accepted a cup of coffee from Spider-man.

"She was in her diamond form while we played," Johnny informed them.

"You won on your own?" Scott asked.

"I can hold my own in many a venture _and_ without reading anyone's mind, Scott Summers."

"I didn't mean to imply . . ." Scott fumbled for words to pacify Emma but her fierce look made him stop before he dug himself into a deeper hole.

"You comin', T or what?" Luke asked.

"Me? Oh, no. I'm waiting for my ride."

"You can ride with us if you don't wanna go back with Luke. Come on, Ben it's past your bedtime anyway," Johnny said through a yawn.

"Don't think you can order me around, kid, you ain't Stretch!" warned Ben.

"I didn't say I was, man! I just wanna go home! It's late an' you're cranky."

"Yeah, let's go, I need my beauty sleep," agreed Spider-man who'd come with Ben and Johnny. He stuffed the last of his muffin into his mouth then tugged his mask back in place and wiped his hands on his thighs letting crumbs fall to the floor.

"Alright, alright You mugs ain't no fun at all, pups all of ya! Can't stay up all night more 'n a few times a week. Logan we still on for next weekend?"

Not one person in the room missed the way Logan glanced at Ororo as if looking for her consent. She was pleased that he'd even thought he'd have to ask for her permission and she smiled which he took for a yes and he grinned. "Yeah, sure – usual place?"

"Yeah, unless you want us ta hang out at yer place again, T'Challa," chuckled Ben.

"My place? My place! You ruined my place! You ruined the rug! You ruined the door! You ruined the alarm! My place? I don't have a place anymore!"

"Remy did notice de door was kinda not dere," Remy murmured.

"Oh yeah, it's definitely time to go, the Cajun's talking in third person again," laughed Spider-man.

"Hey, wait a minute what about this mess?" exclaimed Scott.

"What mess?" Peter Parker asked.

"This mess! Don't play games with me Spider-man, this floor is a mess! The table's a mess! There's trash all over the place! Who's going to clean this?"

"Don't you have a little turbo water mutant Pokemon student or a kid with clean up powers to do your floors for you and take out your trash?" asked Spidey.

"Get out!" screamed Scott. "Get out now and don't ever come back here again!"

"Uh . . . sure and . . . uh . . . thanks for an interesting morning, Miss Frost," said Spider-man.

"Oh. You're welcome, Spider-man just make sure you don't make this a habit."

"You mean we can't be BFF's either? First Scott now you, sheesh."

"Get outta here web head," Logan said affably.

"You don't have to pretend in front of everyone, buddy, I know you're gonna miss me."

"Come on, Spidey. You never know when to shut up," Johnny muttered.

"Top of the morning to you all, I've had so much fun!" Spider-man shouted as Johnny yanked him by the arm and marched him out.

"I'm outta here too. Thanks fer goin' ta bed early, Gambit," Luke said as he headed out with Ben.

"_Adieu, mes amis_," fare-welled Remy.

Scott watched in silence as the last of their uninvited guests made their way out.

"Wow, that was weird," said Kitty who was manning the alarm panel to let their unexpected guest out. "Well, maybe not weird, a brood chasing me around the mansion's weird. No, I take that back. Being trapped in a giant sized bullet missile thingy for months rocketing through space while I remained intangible so it wouldn't blow up the world is weird. Well, that and everything we pretty much do around here is weird."

"Your point?" asked Emma.

"I guess it was just different but _fun_ different. Why don't we have a poker night?"

"No. No! NO!" exploded Scott. "No way are we going to have anything like that here ever! No way!"

"Uh . . . mornin'," grunted a very sleepy looking Jubilee when she came into the kitchen wearing mix matched socks with her jeans and top.

"Hey, Jubes! You'll never guess what happened!" greeted Kitty.

"Uh . . . don't wanna."

"Okay, I'll tell you. Emma beat the socks off of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and Dr. Strange _and_ Spider-man!"

"Don't forget S.H.I.E.L.D.," added Emma.

"Uh . . . you beat them an' took their socks? Gee, Emma that's . . ."

"No, stupid, she beat them in poker!"

"Ohhhh! You played strip poker with them! Okay, I guess that makes more sense with what you're wearing but still . . ."

"Of course she didn't play strip poker with them, Jubilee!" screeched Scott.

"Uh huh. So . . . you actually beat them fair and square? Cool," said Jubilee with frank admiration.

"I'm impressed myself," Remy said.

"I am a woman of many skills and I learn fast. Never underestimate me.".

"Well, I for one knew you could handle yourself," stated T'Challa.

Everyone turned to look at the forgotten king amongst them.

"Hey," he said and threw up a hand in greeting then flashed his handsome new smile.

"You're wasting your time here," Logan said as he clasped Ororo's hand firmly in his.

"I only came to play cards, Logan."

"T'Challa," Ororo warned.

"Nah, that's okay. I've got some news fer everyone, you included, Panther," Logan said and he squeezed Ororo's hand hard.

"What news?" Scott sighed as he plunked down into a chair.

Logan looked at Ororo and grinned.

"Well, we're – Ro an' me, we're together now."

"Huh? That's, like way old news," Jubilee informed him.

"So old," Kitty added.

"It's news ta you ain't it?" Logan asked Emma.

"No, darling. I'm a telepath."

Logan's face screwed up with distaste. He was thinking what she could do with her telepathy but obviously she wasn't reading his mind just then because she still looked her usual oblivious self.

"It's news ta you ain't it?" Logan asked Scott.

"Well, no. I've seen you going out a lot. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together," their leader replied with a shrug.

"Or a telepath," T'Challa remarked.

"Go home, T'Challa," Ororo said.

"My ride's not here yet."

"No, let him stay if he wants, he smells delicious," Jubilee murmured.

"Drink your meds," Scott ordered.

"Alright already!"

"Jubes is right, you can move in if ya want an' take classes here fer all I care but it ain't' gonna change anything," Logan said and then he did something truly characteristic and yet completely uncharacteristic, something none of them, no, not even Ororo would have ever imagined him doing. He took Ororo into his arms, dipped her elegantly as if in a dance, kissed her hard on the lips and then, grinning that lopsided grin that she knew would never fail to take her breath away, he simply said, "Let's get married."

No it wasn't really romantic, not even a sweet private moment but he looked at Ororo with such an ardent and earnest look on his face she felt as if she were falling in love with him all over again and all she could do was smile and nod.

"Married?" gasped T'Challa.

"_Now_ you can get out," Logan told his rival before he kissed Ororo again.

As if on cue T'Challa's cell phone rang but he didn't move to answer it.

"Maybe that's your ride," commented Logan wryly as he set Ororo back onto her feet.

Almost everyone there found themselves utterly speechless. Well, except for Jubilee who had stopped plundering the refrigerator for her morning blood concoction..

"Is this, like for real?" she asked.

"What the hell? I just asked Ororo to marry me! You think it's a joke?" growled Logan.

"Well it was, like kinda outta the blue, Wolvie."

"She's got a good point," T'Challa said.

"She said _yes!_" Logan said, pointedly looking at T'Challa whose phone began to ring again.

"No, she didn't actually say anything, probably didn't want to embarrass you," returned the Panther.

"She shook her head yes, I saw it," Kitty offered.

"Yes," Ororo said now, "Yes, Logan I will marry you but only if you want to after you hear my news," Ororo said a little nervously.

"What's wrong?" Scott immediately asked.

"Rogue and Peter should be here," Ororo murmured.

"See, she said yes," Logan said smugly.

T'Challa ignored him and answered his phone. "Hello. Oh hi, Monica – yeah, they'll let you in. Hey, uh, let my _girlfriend_ through the gate will you, otherwise I _will_ be staying and we'll be the Panther and the X-Men."

"Girlfriend?" queried Emma.

"Monica Lynn. She's crazy about me, couldn't stop thinking about me. We, uh, made up so that's why she's here to pick me up. We're . . . we're going on holiday! Yeah! We might even get married. You know, your first true love, you just never forget her," T'Challa said although when he spoke he kept looking at Ororo hoping for some reaction.

Ororo wasn't sure what to believe but she didn't care whether what he said was truth or fiction. Logan on the other hand was hoping there was some truth in there though he seriously doubted it and figured T'Challa's sudden girlfriend, make believe or not, was just his way of trying to find a way to bow out of their little war without looking too stupid which was fine with him.

"Hope you have fun in Oz," Logan snorted.

"I won't even respond to that, Logan. It would be beneath me. Well, so long everyone, it's been . . ."

"Just go, please!" interrupted Ororo.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm going." But though T'Challa got up he stood there looking at his ex wife. He looked at her with a sad, tender look on his handsome face then, though he didn't mean to he sighed then said, "I hope you know what you're doing, Ororo. You really do deserve to be happy."

"I know what I'm doing. I love Logan," Ororo stated emphatically.

T'Challa nodded then slowly walked to the door and let himself out.

"And that's the last of him – hopefully," Emma said, breaking the silence after he was gone. "Now we'll all live happily ever after, blah, blah, blah and you, Logan, can cut the crap," Emma said as she watched Logan get a cup of coffee for Ororo.

"No, thank you, Logan. I don't really like coffee in the morning, I mean unless I'm really tired. Besides that I think maybe I should be careful about the amount of caffeine I have now," Ororo confessed.

"Huh?" said a puzzled Logan.

"Oh no! Ororo Munroe you better not say what I think you're gong to say!" shrieked Emma.

"Why don't you ask Rogue to join us if she's up?" Ororo asked.

"You aren't pregnant are you?"

Ororo sighed. "No, Emma I'm not pregnant and if I were I really wouldn't appreciate you telling everyone the news before I did."

"Well, that's a relief," the White Queen sighed.

Ororo smiled not letting Emma get to her this morning of all mornings, a new morning with new possibilities, a new beginning. She felt and looked very content, very happy.

"Perhaps I should restate that however," Ororo said. "I might be pregnant, I'm not entirely sure yet."

Logan couldn't speak, couldn't think, couldn't breathe.

"Pregnant?" Remy mused.

"Pregnant?" Scott balked.

"Possibly," she said and gave her brand new fiancé a kiss.

"Possibly?" Logan said, barely aware of her lips brushing his.

"Well, just take one of those tests you buy at the store," Jubilee said.

"Damn," said Logan.

"I didn't see that coming," Kitty said.

"How soon before we have to put you on the inactive list if you are?" inquired Scott.

"Weren't you out drinkin' all weekend?" Remy asked.

"Just a few glasses of wine, Remy. Okay, maybe I did have a little too much the other night," she said and glanced at Logan. They both remembered her drunken confession and he laughed out right and drew her to him.

"You're not upset?" she asked him.

"For what? We're gonna get married, maybe have a kid even! It's like for once everything's right in my world. Even if you're not pregnant we got all the time in the world ta have a kid."

"But is that going to be a problem, you drinking? I mean if you are pregnant?" Jubilee asked.

"Didn't they do that in the fifties and sixties all the time, like how they drove kids around without car seats and they smoked and drank right up till they gave birth? I mean the baby boomers don't seem all that messed up," Kitty said.

"I'm going to see Cecilia but if I am pregnant I think the baby would be fine. I honestly didn't drink that much and I don't usually drink alcohol."

"Pregnant _and_ abusing alcohol," tsked Emma. "I would never have suspected such a thing from you, Ororo."

"At least she'll have a husband," Scott said, "She won't go through this alone." He was completely baffled by this turn of events, a proposal and news of a possible pregnancy. It was almost too much to take in but he knew one thing for certain, Ororo wouldn't go through this alone, he would make Logan marry her if he had to do it by force and so he said,"Isn't that right, Logan?" and added, "You'll make a great husband and father."

Scott didn't gag on that last part though it truly was hard for him to say. If anything he expected Logan would make a reckless and absent father. He wondered if Ororo would be happy and then he looked at Emma who looked as baffled as he did. He hoped she wasn't going to get the marriage bug because he wasn't ready for another marriage and then he thought of Jean, her beautiful smile, her love for Ororo, and how she would have been screaming with joy and hugging Ororo, talking a mile a minute making plans or at least he liked to think she would've been happy for her best friend and Logan. He didn't want to think about that though and so he didn't. Instead he stepped up to Ororo and wrapped his arms around her and held onto her.

"This is for Jean," he whispered and Ororo's arms went around him and she held on just as tight making no attempt to hold back her tears.

When he let her go she wiped at her eyes and mouthed a thank you because she couldn't talk past the lump in her throat.

"I hope you'll be happy, Ororo and you too, Logan," Scott said and then he walked out of the room because he was tearing up too though no one but maybe Emma would have noticed.

"Wow, dat got us outta a mess," Remy said.

"Oh, he hasn't forgotten," Emma said, "But I'll talk to him. And, Ororo, well played. I'm suitably impressed. That's the most ancient method to snag your man."

Ororo rolled her eyes but had the grace to say, "I think it was your suggestion more than anything, that and being honest with myself and with Logan. Thank you for your . . . wisdom, Emma." There was no hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, of course you're quite welcome, Ororo – hug, hug, and all that good rot, but darlings, do not let this be a lesson to you. It is a very bad lesson on how to get your man. Never, ever do what Ororo may or may not have done. Heed my advice, Ororo just got lucky."

"What're you talkin' about?" Logan asked.

"She said you would never commit to anyone," Kitty said.

"She did say that," agreed Jubilee.

"Looks like you were wrong then, Emma?" said Logan.

"Whatever," Emma said and stalked off after Scott.

"It's gonna be a good morning, darlin," Logan said as he pulled Ororo to him again.

"Why do you say that?" Ororo asked as she looked down at him.

"Panther's gone, Scott's gone, Emma's gone . . ."

"I wonder if it's a boy or a girl, or is it too early to tell? I mean if you are pregnant," Jubilee gushed.

"Probably twins or triplets knowing dese two," Remy said.

"Damn!" Logan gasped.

"Or maybe a whole litter," Remy said, taking Ororo from Logan and he danced her around the room.

"What's goin' on y'all?" Rogue asked when she entered the kitchen.

Remy let go of Ororo and immediately took Rogue into his arms and swung her into step.

"Ororo and Logan are getting married!" chimed Kitty and Jubilee.

"An' dey gonna have a whole litter!" Remy said as he twirled his on again off again lover.

"What? Are y'all serious?"

Remy stopped in front of Ororo, let Rogue go, and he touched Ororo's flat stomach trying to imagine her fat with child and then to everyone's surprise Logan keeled over. Well, he didn't keel over so much as fall onto the floor having missed the chair he'd pulled out by a good three inches.

"Oh dear," said Ororo, "I think that might have been too much for him."

"Remy was serious then? Y'all're gettin' married _an_' havin' a baby?" Rogue squealed.

"Dey serious as a heart attack, chère."

"Ah hope he ain't havin' one now, sugah," murmured Rogue.

"He's smiling at least," Kitty noted as she peered down at him. "I think he's happy."

"I just wasn't payin' attention ta what I was doin'," Logan said, waving Kitty away but he was beaming.

He could see him and Ororo in a giant bed with little babies climbing all over them like little puppies. The thought of raising a child with Ororo had been a bonus after she said she'd marry him, that it might be more than one had blown him away, the enormity of what they were about to embark on, but it was something he wanted wholeheartedly. This was his chance at a normal life with love and happiness and a real family. He'd not done the best job raising any of his surrogate kids, Kitty, Jubilee, Amiko and he certainly hadn't been there for Daken, now he could do it right with the woman he loved. It just didn't get any better than that.

Ororo was beaming as well. She'd spent so much time worrying about what to do with Logan that she hadn't put two and two together, not until she'd thrown up again this morning before she'd gotten dressed. It was the first time she'd thrown up in the morning and not at night and she'd suddenly realized why she was throwing up. She could be wrong but all the signs told her otherwise. She'd been afraid Logan would reject her when he found out but after the long weekend of worrying and being too afraid to confront Logan she'd come to realize worrying solved nothing. If you wanted something you merely needed to go for it, take the risk, be bold, accept the consequences. She wanted Logan and she wanted the child or twins or triplets or the whole litter even if it meant things wouldn't work out between her and Logan but she'd felt, no, she'd known that what she and Logan felt for each other was strong enough that things would work out somehow.

Now she was glad she'd listened to Emma because just maybe Emma had played a little part in getting Logan to confess how he felt. She chuckled as she knelt beside Logan who grinned up at her. Maybe she and Emma should write a book, she thought. She laughed at the idea then laughed all the harder when Logan reached up and pulled her down into his arms and they sat there together on the muddied floor with their friends all around them, sharing their joy.

**~ Fin Finis Finished ~**


End file.
